Meriania Explained

Meriania is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae. There are about 93 species distributed from Mexico to Brazil and the Antilles.^[1]

Plants of this genus are woody shrubs or trees with large flowers and capsules.^[1] The genus was named in honor of naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian.^[2]

Species include:

• Meriania acostae Wurdack
• Meriania almedae Wurdack
• Meriania ampla Wurdack
• Meriania amplexicaulis Wurdack
• Meriania barbosae^[1]
• Meriania campii Wurdack
• Meriania costata Wurdack
• Meriania crassiramis (Naudin) Wurdack
• Meriania cuneifolia Gleason
• Meriania denticulata (Gleason) Wurdack
• Meriania drakei (Cogn.) Wurdack
• Meriania fantastica^[1]
• Meriania franciscana^[3]
• Meriania furvanthera Wurdack
• Meriania grandiflora (Standl.) Almeda
• Meriania kirkbridei Wurdack
• Meriania leucantha (Sw.) Sw.
• Meriania loxensis Gleason
• Meriania maguirei Wurdack
• Meriania panamensis Woods. & Schery
• Meriania pastazana Wurdack
• Meriania peltata L.Uribe
• Meriania pichinchensis Wurdack
• Meriania rigida (Benth.) Triana
• Meriania stellata (Gleason) Wurdack
• Meriania versicolor L.Uribe

Notes and References

1. Mendoza-Cifuentes, H., Alvear, M., & Almeda, F. (2014). Novelties in Meriania (Melastomataceae: Merianieae) from Andean rainforests of Colombia. Phytotaxa, 178(1), 23-32.
2. Book: Swartz, Olof. Flora Indiae Occidentalis :aucta atque illustrata sive descriptiones plantarum in prodromo recensitarum / Olavi Swartz.. Palmii. Jo Jacobi. Son. B. White and. 1797. Jo. Jacobi Palmii. v. 2. Erlangae [Erlangen, Germany]. 824.
3. Ulloa, C. U., & Homeier, J. (2008, July). Meriania franciscana (Melastomataceae), una especie nueva de los Andes de Ecuador. Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid 65(2) 383-387.