Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_melastoma_malabathricum_subsp_malabathricum
Malabar Melastome
Melastoma malabathricum subsp. malabathricum
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About Malabar Melastome
Malabar Melastome (Melastoma malabathricum subsp. malabathricum) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. The accepted subspecies belongs to a wet-tropical Asian species complex and occurs in open, disturbed, and forest-edge vegetation. Small fleshy fruits and numerous seeds support dispersal and rapid colonization where conditions are suitable. Bishop Museum documents this exact subspecies as naturalized on Kauaʻi; Smithsonian screening did not return an exact-name match, so the Bishop row controls island status.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Melastoma malabathricum subsp. malabathricum
- Common names
- Malabar Melastome · Indian rhododendron
- Other names
- Melastoma malabathricum subsp. malabathricum · Malabar melastome · Indian rhododendron
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Present island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects have not been quantified; no invasive severity is inferred from checklist or forestry status.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Large flowers require pollination, after which many-seeded fleshy fruits mature within the persistent calyx. Fruit consumers can move the small seeds; Kauaʻi-specific pollinators, dispersers, seed-bank behavior, and recruitment are unknown.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or small tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Malabar Melastome (Melastoma malabathricum subsp. malabathricum) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. The accepted subspecies belongs to a wet-tropical Asian species complex and occurs in open, disturbed, and forest-edge vegetation. Small fleshy fruits and numerous seeds support dispersal and rapid colonization where conditions are suitable. Bishop Museum documents this exact subspecies as naturalized on Kauaʻi; Smithsonian screening did not return an exact-name match, so the Bishop row controls island status.