Family: Melastomataceae

Origin, Description & Uses
Microlicia phlogiformis is a small flowering shrub native to Brazil, where it grows naturally in open grasslands and rocky habitats. It is valued as an ornamental for its compact growth, attractive foliage, and showy purple to magenta flowers that can bloom over an extended season. Its colorful display and suitability for containers, rock gardens, and small landscape plantings have made it appealing to specialty gardeners and collectors of tropical and subtropical plants.

Risks & Threats
Although Microlicia phlogiformis is not currently known to be naturalized in Hawaii, it possesses traits that are cause for concern. A previous population on Kauaʻi has been extirpated, demonstrating that the species has escaped cultivation in the past. Like many members of the melastome family, it produces numerous small seeds that may be dispersed by wind, water, animals, or contaminated soil, increasing the potential for spread if plants establish outside cultivation. Ongoing evaluation is needed to determine whether this species could impact Hawaii’s unique ecosystems. Gardeners are encouraged to monitor cultivated plants carefully, prevent seed dispersal, and consider planting low-risk or native alternatives whenever possible.

High Risk Traits:

• Elevation range exceeds 1000 m, demonstrating environmental versatility
  
• Thrives in tropical climates
  
• Collected and reported as naturalized on Kauai (Hawaiian Islands); extirpated
  
• Shade-tolerant
  
• Reproduces by seeds
  
• Small seeds may facilitate dispersal
  
• Gaps in biological and ecological information limit accuracy or risk prediction

Low Risk Traits:

• No reports of invasiveness, but no evidence of widespread introduction outside native range
  
• Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
  
• No evidence of cultivation or sale in horticultural industry (may limit risk of accidental spread)