Narrative

Medinilla magnifica is an epiphyte that is native to the Philippines. This shrub can grow to about 6 feet high.

This lifeform is frequentlhy domesticated.

This lfieform is found in the Philippine Islands.

Medinilla genus is native to a large area from southeastern Asia throughout the Philippines into various islands of the Pacific Ocean. Species are also found in central Africa. There are about 150 species of evergreen vines and shrubs in this genus. The leaves have prominent veins.

Melastoma family (Melastomataceae) is a large family with almost 5,000 species spread throughout 200 different genera. These are mostly herbs, but may be shrubs or trees in the tropical regions. The leaves are usually opposite with 3-9 nerves. There are 71 species in 22 different genera now growing in greater North America.

Myrtiflorae Order is an assemblage of over twenty different families.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.