noun
a family of trees and bushes and herbs of order Myrtales; many are cultivated as ornamentals
• Hypernyms: ↑rosid dicot family
• Member Holonyms: ↑Myrtales, ↑order Myrtales, ↑Thymelaeales, ↑order Thymelaeales
• Member Meronyms: ↑Melastoma, ↑genus Melastoma, ↑Medinilla, ↑genus Medinilla, ↑Rhexia, ↑genus Rhexia
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Melastomaceae /me-lə-stō-māˈsi-ē or -māˈshi-ē/
plural noun
A tropical family of plants related to the myrtles, very abundant in S America, characterized by the leaf-veins diverging from the base and meeting at the tip, named from the Old World genus Melastoma/mi-lasˈtō-mə/
ORIGIN: Gr melās black, and stoma mouth, from the staining effect of its fruit on the lips
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melastomāˈceous adjective
Useful english dictionary. 2012.