Miconia

I always tell visitors at the Bosque that this may be the best plant to demonstrate biodiversity. Miconia is the genus and there are more than one-thousand species found throughout the tropics! Evidently some countries in Central America are trying to eradicate the plant because it's considered an uncontrollable weed. The local name for it here at the Bosque is tinteiro. Only two varieties have been classified, tinteiro branco and tinteiro vermelho. Personally, I like having lots of these trees around because they are quite beautiful and they produce fruit the birds like. I took this picture today but I couldn't find any with fruit. Another opportunity.