Taxonomy
Melastoma affine was first described by Scottish botanist David Don in 1823. The taxonomy of the melastoma group is tricky with Meyer proposing to revise this species into M. malabathricum subsp. malabathricum in Blumea 46(2): 351–398 (2001). However, this has not been fully accepted (Australian Plant Census - Melastomataceae).
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