Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Dicotyledon Literature for Miconia crenata
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999.
   Melastomataceae -- The Melastoma Family Bibliography
      Miconia crenata

Common name(s): koster's curse
General Information
DistributionA weedy and widespread native of the Neotropics, now an invasive pest in much of the Paleotropics.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Hawai`i.

Melastomataceae - Miconia crenata Melastomataceae - Miconia crenata















Habit
Shrubs 0.5-3 m tall; young branches rounded, hirsute; cauline hairs, 2-4 mm long, the longer one eglandular.
Leaves
Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, 5-16 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, 5-nerved, upper surface sparsely strigose, lower surface finely bristly, margins ciliate, subentire to crenulate-denticulate, apex acute to short-acuminate, base rounded to subcordate, petioles 0.5-3 cm long.
Flowers
Pedicels 0.5-1 mm long in fruit; hypanthium 3-3.5 mm long, moderately to sparsely finely bristly, usually with a mixture of gland-tipped and stellulate hairs; receptacle bearing a conspicuous ring of fimbriate scales surrounding style; calyx lobes broadly ovate to truncate in fruit, ca. 0.5 mm long, the linear external teeth projecting 2-4 mm; petals 8-11 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, glabrous; staminal filaments ca. 2.5 mm long; anthers 3.5-4.5 mm long, dorsal spur at base ca. 0.25 mm long.
Fruit
Berries 6-9 mm long.
Seeds
Seeds 0.5-0.75 mm long.
Chromosomes
2n = 34
Contributor
Nancy Khan