Bertolonia is a genus consisting of 14 species of pretty, dwarf, creeping, tender perennials, native to tropical South America. These herbaceous plants are grown for their colorful, velvety, ornamental foliages, vary from shimmery white with purple, pink with purple, or bronze-green with carmine and lighter midribs, purple beneath. Leaves are coarsely hairy, oval 7 cm (3 in) long on short stalks. The plants bear clusters of small, bell-shaped flowers repeatedly, just above the leaves, color ranges from pink, red, yellow to purple.

Species Bertolonia argyrea Bertolonia guttata Bertolonia houttea Bertolonia maculata Bertolonia marmorata Bertolonia mosenii Bertolonia sp iporanga Bertolonia venezuelensis Bertolonia wentii

References

Botanica_Sistematica

BACCI, L.F., AMORIM, A.M., MICHELANGELI, F.A. & GOLDENBERG, R. 2016. A new species of Bertolonia (Melastomataceae) from southern Bahia, Brazil. Phytotaxa 265: 251-258. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.265.3.5 BACCI, L.F., AMORIM, A.M. & GOLDENBERG, R. 2016. Three new species of Bertolonia (Melastomataceae) from Espírito Santo, Brazil. PeerJ 2822: 1-20. https://peerj.com/articles/2822/?td=bl BACCI, L.F., AMORIM, A.M. & GOLDENBERG, R. 2017. Flora do Espírito Santo: Bertolonia Raddi (Melastomataceae). Rodriguésia 68: 1663-1676. https://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2175-7860201768510 BACCI, L.F., AMORIM, A.M., MICHELANGELI, F.A. & GOLDENBERG, R. 2018. Increased sampling in under-collected areas sheds new light on the diversity and distribution of an Atlantic Forest endemic genus. Systematic Botany 43: 767-792. https://dx.doi.org/10.1600/036364418X697490 BACCI, L.F., MICHELANGELI, F.A. & GOLDENBERG, R. 2019. Revisiting the classification of Melastomataceae: implications for habit and fruit evolution. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 190: 1-24. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boz006