They are erect shrubs or small slender trees with medium-sized violet-pink colored flowers with 6 petals that have made them attractive for cultivation.

The leaves have the 5 distinctive longitudinal veins (nerves) typical of plants in the family Melastomataceae.

Fruit in the form of berries 15 mm long with 6 cells and many small seeds.

[2] Native to Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Vietnam, and southern China.

[2] Melastoma sanguineum was first described by John Sims in 1821 (Botanical Magazine 48: pl.