Leaves have three veins

Rounded rainforest shrub 2 to 3 metres, attractively veined foliage, long flowering mauve-purple flowers in summer and sweet edible fruit (which will stain your tongue blue, thus the common name). Attracts Miskin Jewel butterfly, birds. Useful wetland plant. Honey bees compete with its natural pollinator, native bees. Flowers are large with usually five mauve petals. These are followed by fruits which split open to reveal red to purple flesh with numerous small seeds. Leaves ovate, 6-12 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, discolorous, covered with short, stiff hairs; three main veins and two less conspicuous intramarginal veins; petiole up to 10 mm long. M. malbathricum occurs well beyond Australia, through much of Indonesia and some Pacific Islands. M. malbathricum is important as being a pioneer species that colonises disturbed wet sclerophyll and rainforest habitats in the Australasian region. It produces no nectar giving pollinators large amounts of pollen instead, which must be extracted through pores on the anthers. Blue Tongue has 3 main longitudinal leaf veins which distinguish it from the weedy Asian Mesastoma Melastoma candidum which has 5 veins.

Melastoma malbathricum flower and 3-veined leaves. Photo: Melburnian GNU FDL

Seed collecting and propagation

Mauve flowers in September to February. Followed by reddish globular fruit 6-8 mm long. Fruits develops into greenish hair cup-shaped hypanthium; semi-succulent that eventually dries and splits. Mash fruit in water and spread solution. Germination usually take 3 to 8 weeks. Can also be propagated from cuttings.

Fruits. Photo: Shijan Kaakkara CC BY-SA 4.0