Plant Name
Scientific Name: Arthrostemma ciliatum
Synonyms: Arthrostema ciliatum, A. latifolium
Common Names: Pinkfringe, Arthrostemma
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Hawaii Native Status: Introduced. This naturalized ornamental garden plant is native to the tropical Americas.
Flower Color: Pink
Height: 3 to 13 feet (1 to 4 m) tall
Description: The flowers are up to 2 1/2 inches across and have red flower buds and 4 pink, egg-shaped, point-tipped petals that may be banded with red on the back. Each flower is followed by a red, elongated, cup-shaped fruit known as a hypanthium. The leaves have 5 or 7 longitudinal, palmate veins and are green, slightly bristly, opposite, egg-shaped to broadly lanceolate, and edged with tiny, bristly-hairy, reddish teeth. The young stems are reddish. These weedy, climbing and sprawling plants can cover and smother other plants.
Here in Hawaii, Pinkfringe grows in pastures and along forest edges and roadsides in wet to mesic (moderately wet) areas.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Myrtales
Family: Melastomataceae – Melastome family
Genus: Arthrostemma Pav. ex D. Don – arthrostemma
Species: Arthrostemma ciliatum Pav. ex D. Don – pinkfringe
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