Three <i>Miconia</i> species

I have a tentative identification for one of the three Miconia trees I’ve recognized on our property, but I am still completely in the dark about the the other two. Species A is a small tree I called “canela negra” initially. Species B is a tree in front of our porch that provides perches for many species of birds. Species C is a tree in the woods that can be seen from the kitchen window. Species B is the one I think I have identified, very tentatively.

At present, I am distinguishing the three species by size of tree, size of leaf blade, shape of leaf blade, tree bark, and fruits (species A and C only):

Size of tree: Species A is the shortest (about 4 meters), B and C are about the same in height (estimated 6 – 7 meters).

Estimated sizes of leaf blades: Species A = 10 cm ; Species B = 22 cm; Species C = 35 cm.

Shape of leaf blade: The leaf blade of species B is more oval than A or C. The blade of species C also is attached differently to the stem than the other two.

Bark: Species A bark is rough, species B less so, and species C slightly smoother than B.

Fruits: The fruits of species A turn brownish red when ripe. The fruits of species C are a bright magenta. I haven’t seen the fruits of species B yet.

The only tree I have seen bloom is species A. It has bloomed this year on June 19 and 28 and on July 8. The flowers last only a day or two.

Until I get flowers from the other two species, I can go no further with identification. However, I believe I can at least place my species in the correct family, and I’m pretty confident of the genus even though at the moment I don’t have the complete taxonomic description of the genus that I do of the family.

Miconia was named for Francisco Mino [I assume it's Miño], a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist. This esoterica from Dave’s Garden “botanary.” Have found nothing else about Mino (or Miño) on the web.

Wikipedia says that Miconia is a flowering plant belonging to the family Melastomataceae and is native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species, it says, “… are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 m tall.”

The family name is interesting for the explanation it offers to the daily morning bird poop on our front porch. Mela- means black; -stoma means mouth. The berries of at least one genus (Melastoma) in this family will turn your mouth black if you eat them. Family members are shrubs or small trees. The bird poop has been dark red to black for the last several weeks. It takes daily scrubbing to remove, and it is clearly stain from the seeds the birds are now eating.

There are about 200 genera and 4,000 species in the family Melastomataceae. They are distinguished by characteristics of their leaves, flowers, and fruits.

I am going to use my Miconia species A to show how it fits into the Melastomataceae family. The description of the family comes from the web site “Melastomataceae of the World” posted by Darin Penneys, of the University of Florida Herbarium. As much as possible, I have translated botanical terms used by Mr. Penneys to common English words and may thereby have erred somewhat in my description.

Leaf arrangement: opposite pairs. Each pair is at right angles to the pair below. This picture of a branch from Miconia sp. A tree shows the right angles between adjacent pairs.

Leaf venation: major leaf veins usually 3-9 running in a parallel fashion from the base of the blade to near the leaf tip. This picture is of the underside of a leaf blade, which shows the venation more clearly than the top side does.

Flowers: The flowers are bisexual – each flower has both male and female reproductive organs. They typically have radial symmetry, although the symmetry of the reproductive organs may have only one plane. The first picture shows a stem bearing flowers. The second picture shows some detail of an individual flower, including the radial symmetry of the petals.

Other flower features: The androcenium, the male part of the flower, is most often arranged in two whorls, but may have only one whorl or numerous stamens. Each stamen has an anther (the pollen-bearing part) and a filament. This flower appears to have only one androcenium whorl but more detail could only be seen with a microscope. Stamens are typically claw-like, with knee-like joints to the filament. The second picture above shows that the petals are folded back over the sepals and the stamen protrude from the flower in a whorl.

The gynoecium, the female part of the flower, consists of a single compound pistil of mostly 4-14 carpels. The carpels of the flower of this Miconia sp. A cannot be seen without a microscope.

Fruits: The fruit is a capsule or berry. The fruit of Miconia sp. A is a berry.

When I first saw the web site of Ed van Zinderen Bakker showing plants from Belize, I thought I was on the right track to identifying Miconia species A.Here’s the image of his flower:

and the image of the flower of species A is below.

 

However, his leaf looked relatively larger and the edges of the blade looked more serrated than the for the leaf of species A.

When I found M. argentea at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute web site, the first thing that struck me is that the leaves were broader than the leaves of species A.

Then I looked at the individual flower images. Although the flower clusters look similar, the individual flowers look different to me than the flowers of species A.

It may only be because the petals of species A are folded back on the calyx, but I believe that also the style in the Smithsonian image is longer than the style in species A.

These images were enough to persuade me that species A is not M. argentea, but I find it possible that species B is M. argentea.

My evidence is based on the shape and size of the leaf. Smithsonian’s description of M. argentia includes ” A small to medium-sized tree, with large, almost round leaves.”

So, I think that it is possible that species B is Miconia argentea. But leaf size and shape alone are far from enough evidence to describe a species. I need now to watch for a bloom (which may not be until sometime next year) to gather the flowers, and then the fruits, and examine them.

Species A and C are still unidentified