Think this is the closest that you will get to a tibouchina but I have found that they are less dense than the exotic but let us know how yours grows and will you prune it to thicken it up????????

Hi Cat,

Yes, the label indicates that the plant accepts pruning : I'll give it a few more weeks to bed in, then I'll take a few centimetres off the end of each stem.

I did find entries on Google which refer to Melastoma as the 'Native Lassiandra', but there was no reference to this on the original label, and I cant find it mentioned in any of my books (GA 'Native Flora', Getting Started with Natives' etc).

Artie
Australian Native Plants (Wrigley & Fagg) has info on the affine.
It says; "Rounded shrub, variable in height from 50cm to 3m. Prominently veined leaves are elliptical to 12cm and rough-textured. Flowers are mauve-purple, about 5cm in diameter with prominent yellow antlers. They occue mainly in summer but some flowers occur most of the year.
The fruits of Melastoma are sweet and edible and the name derivation Mela - black and stoma- mouth, refers to the black staining of the tongue by some members of the genus.
Distribution: NSW, Qld, NT, WA.
Melastoma is closelt related to the exotic Tibouchina, commonly grown in coastal gardens as lasiandra.
Propagation: from cuttings or seed.
Cultivation: a hardy plant in shaded situations, with well-composted soil. Frost tender. Good foliage plant and long flowering. Provides interesting foliage texture among ferns, by a south-facing wall or near a shaded pool."
F. Suitable for heavy shade
L. Recommended for its foliage
P. May be used as a feature
Z. Suitable for planting in tropical areas

Hope that helps
Roy

Artie
Found more info in "Flowering Natives for Home Gardens" (Denise Greig)
It says; "This species prefers light shade in a warm position in well-composted soil. It needs plenty of moisture and is frost-tender. Prune to shape after flowering.
A good looking, off-season flowering shrub that will enhance a water feature and will blend well with palms and tree ferns."

Roy

Just for some more local input; this is the entry from a Mackay SGAP publication. "M. affine, Native Lasiandra or Blue tongue. A medium shrub with large, prominently veined, dark green leaves and large open-petalled mauve flowers in summer to autumn. For a sunny or lightly shaded position." The book indicates that it is found naturally in this area.
Rose

Wow ! So much feedback in a short time - thanks guys !

I have it in the 'tropical' room in my garden : roughly equal mix of natives and exotics. Will plant something like 'Tibouchina Jules' alongside it to see how similar (or otherwise) they become over time. The conflicting advice run sun/shade is typical with many plants which would be at home in the rainforest, and I am eagerly awaiting the establishment of my canopy. I laugh when I read articles in the magazines aimed at those with 'too much' shade :)

OK Artie, this is my final attempt at posting a simple message :)
Here is an image and some info (semi-shaded this time...)

Here is a link that might be useful: flower image plus

Thanks Rose - both plants look lovely in flower. I wouldnt plant the lily as it 'dies back' in Winter, and I find that a sufficiently depressing time in my garden as it is : thankfully, we have our Winter warmth and the Grevillea in this part of the world respodn accordingly :)

Sorry to be sceptical, but I am not so sure that the plant in your picture is the native species.

Several decades back, Melastoma malabathricum was a popular garden shrub in NSW and presumably in Qld also. It has largely fallen from fashion and now it's only rarely that I spot a plant in old-established gardens. It was generally regarded as a native of southern Asia, not Australia. Your plant looks very like the plant I knew then, with flowers maybe 7-8 cm across and with 7 petals.

M. affine is currently the name used for the Australian Melastoma, though it's also gone under the names M. polyanthum and M. denticulatum. It extends across the tropical north and down the coast well into NSW. It has a smaller, more delicate flower than M. malabathricum, usually about 5 cm across, with 5 or 6 petals.

M. affine occurs well beyond Australia, through much of Indonesia etc and some Pacific Islands. At one time it was lumped with M. malabathricum, which was treated as a highly variable species. I saw a recent botanical paper in which this view is revived. Regardless of name, I still think Artie's plant is not of native origin. Some of you Queenslanders probably have the native one growing close by, and you might like to compare it.

Tony
You are such a killjoy.

That's interesting Tony but help me out here :)..... surely there are 5 petals on the pictured flower? I suppose by the time I drag my bones across town to look (15 minutes!), the flowers will have departed. I can just see me annoying the nice young communications officer with "um, are you sure this isn't M. malabathricum ?"

Rose, the picture in the link you provided is of a flower with 5 petals., and it looks OK for the native M. affine.

But Artie's pic (copy his link URL, paste in address bar) is of a flower with 7 petals, at least as far as I am able to count them.

D'uh, now you know that I didn't check Artie's pic....
I see 7 petals. (Does anyone know why odd numbers are so important in botany?)

Apologies to all concerned - when I sourced the photo referenced in the original post, I didnt think to check that it was the genuine article : the leaves certainly looked the same as mine, but then they also look like Tibouchina leaves. Sadly, I have no flowers on my plant, and I havent taken a photo of my plant : as its in the (predominately exotic) 'tropical' section of my garden, its probably a moot point, but I will count the petals when it eventually flowers.

Thanks for all the feedback on this - surprising when you consider that I had never even heard of a 'Native Lasiandra' prior to buying this plant (whatever it turns out to be :) ).

I have a couple growing in semi shade - they are a lovely shrub - quite open (but pruning helps thicken them up) - they flower for a long period of time. They seem to benefit from extra water.

For your information the correct name for Melastoma affine is now Melastoma malabathricum. Nurseries are very slow to pick up on name changes, mainly because the labels are produced by a couple of southern companies and it is fairly expensive to re do one.

It has a very heavy water requirement. In the wild it is only found on the edge of streams, swamps or on waterlogged areas. On the Atherton Tablelands it occurs along roads in the very wet rainforest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rainforest Magic