Yes, my favorite flower at the moment, blooming all over the hills right now.
It was one of the 10 species planted on the Tree Planting Day.

I took these pictures a few days ago. Click to enlarge:

<img src="http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum/Lamma-Gung/photogallery/photo22474/photogallery/photo22432/Hike-DSC03106.jpg" border=1 hspace=5 align=left><img src="http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum/Lamma-Gung/photogallery/photo22474/photogallery/photo22432/Hike-DSC03076.jpg" border=1 hspace=5>


This flower and tree of the month idea is pretty neat! I'll add them to the Best of the Month section of the My Lamma e-zine from now on.

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I can't understand why Melastoma would be "planted" on Lamma - it grows like a weed all over the hillsides and scrubby areas.

In fact it is considered a noxious weed and threat to native flora in Hawaii - see website:

www.hear.org/...
.

Zep,
Yes, I was wondering about that, too, when I realised that your Flower of the Month was one of the ten "tree" species planted during the Tree Planting Day.

I've just asked the ABLE Chairman about it and he replied that all the species were recommended by the Kadoorie Farm, who also donated all the seedlings. As you might have seen in my Tree Planting Day photo gallery, the newly planted area of the Lamma Forest was actually covered with beautiful Melastomas in full bloom.

Well, even the tree experts at Kadoorie Farm are not perfect in their recommendations. No big deal, as the other 9 tree species are really new and growing nicely in the Forest right now.

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