Melaleuca aspalathoides

Last updated

Melaleuca aspalathoides
Melaleuca aspalathoides.jpg
Melaleuca aspalathoides growing near Mundaring
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Melaleuca
Species:
M. aspalathoides
Binomial name
Melaleuca aspalathoides

Melaleuca aspalathoides is a small shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small shrub with soft, grey foliage and distinctive calyx lobes around each of its magenta-coloured flowers.

Contents

Description

Melaleuca aspalathoides usually grows to a height of less than 60 cm (20 in). Its leaves are thin cylinder-shaped, 7–28 mm (0.3–1 in) long, crowded around the stem and covered with silky, grey-green hairs. Leaves on new shoots are longer, softer and silkier than older leaves. [1] [2]

Magenta-coloured flowers appear in late spring and summer at the ends of the branches, contrasting with the grey foliage. The base of the flower is woolly and the five sepals surrounding it are sharply pointed. Flowering occurs in late spring and summer. The fruit are round to urn-shaped, about 7 mm (0.3 in) long and 5 mm (0.2 in) diameter. [1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1844 by Johannes Conrad Schauer in Plantae Preissianae from a specimen collected near York in 1840. [3] [4] The specific epithet (aspalathoides) is a reference to its similarity to plants in the genus Aspalathus . [3]

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in the area between the Walkaway, Western Australia and Brookton-Tammin districts [2] in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Jarrah Forest biogeographic regions of Western Australia. It grows in loam on gravelly ridges. [5] [6]

Conservation status

Melaleuca aspalathoides is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Melaleuca preissiana</i> Species of tree

Melaleuca preissiana, commonly known as stout paperbark, modong or moonah, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to coastal areas of southwest Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with papery bark, small leaves and spikes of usually white flowers. It occurs chiefly in areas that are seasonally wet.

<i>Verticordia habrantha</i>

Verticordia habrantha, commonly known as hidden featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a slender shrub with short, leafy side-branches and long flowering stems with rounded heads of mostly white flowers. Its hairy sepals are mostly hidden by the round, unfringed petals, and as a result, the plant looks like shrubs in the genus Chamelaucium, to which it is closely related.

<i>Melaleuca rhaphiophylla</i> Species of flowering plant

Melaleuca rhaphiophylla, commonly known as swamp paperbark is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It has narrow, needle-like leaves and profuse spikes of white or yellowish flowers at variable times throughout the year. As its common name suggests, it is usually found in salt marshes, or swamps or along watercourses and occurs over wide areas of the south-west.

<i>Eucalyptus redunca</i> Species of eucalyptus

Eucalyptus redunca, commonly known as black marlock, is a species of mallee or a shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between nine and fifteen, lemon-coloured flowers and barrel-shaped fruit.

<i>Melaleuca pungens</i> Species of shrub

Melaleuca pungens is a shrub in the myrtle family Myrtaceae which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is very prickly, with a large number of spherical, yellow flower heads.

<i>Melaleuca violacea</i> Species of flowering plant

Melaleuca violacea is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, straggly, prostrate to semi-prostrate shrub with purple flowers and star-shaped fruit.

<i>Melaleuca tuberculata</i> Species of shrub

Melaleuca tuberculata is a small, variable shrub in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. There are three distinct varieties of this species, each with a different leaf size and shape, different distributions and somewhat different habitat preferences.

<i>Melaleuca leptospermoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Melaleuca leptospermoides is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with narrow leaves, pinkish or purple flowers and small fruit, and is similar to Melaleuca tuberculata except that it lacks brown bracts at the base of the flowers.

<i>Melaleuca holosericea</i> Species of shrub

Melaleuca holosericea is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, rare shrub similar to other pink-flowered species in the Melaleuca scabra group.

Melaleuca manglesii is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub which produces large numbers of heads of purple flowers with yellow tips in spring.

<i>Melaleuca micromera</i> Species of flowering plant

Melaleuca micromera, commonly known as wattle honey-myrtle, is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is a rare species with unusual foliage and profuse small yellow flowerheads, making it a plant that is suitable for cultivation, if only to protect it from extinction.

<i>Melaleuca spathulata</i> Species of shrub

Melaleuca spathulata is a shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a well known garden shrub featuring dark green leaves against light-coloured foliage, many twisted branches and profuse heads of bright pink "pom pom" flower heads in spring or early summer.

<i>Melaleuca suberosa</i> Species of shrub

Melaleuca suberosa, commonly known as corky-bark honey-myrtle or corky honeymyrtle, is a shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is a distinctive shrub, recognised by its tiny, crowded leaves, corky bark and pink flowers that appear along lengths of leafless parts of the branches.

<i>Melaleuca subtrigona</i> Species of shrub

Melaleuca subtrigona is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small shrub with warty leaves and heads of "pom-pom" flowers in spring and early summer.

<i>Regelia inops</i>

Regelia inops is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an upright but often spreading shrub with tiny wedge shaped leaves and small heads of pink flowers on the ends of its branches in the warmer months.

Verticordia endlicheriana var. angustifolia is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, upright shrub with narrow leaves and sweetly-perfumed, golden-yellow flowers which do not change colour as they age.

Verticordia lehmannii is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is slender shrub with only a few branches, well-spaced, oppositely arranged leaves and small heads of pale pink to silvery flowers with a dark pink centre.

<i>Kunzea preissiana</i> Species of shrub

Kunzea preissiana is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a shrub with hairy branches and leaves, pink to mauve flowers in groups on the ends of shoots, and twenty to thirty stamens about the same length as the petals. It is a widespread, often locally common species across its range.

<i>Kunzea recurva</i> Species of shrub

Kunzea recurva is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an uncommon shrub with small leaves and groups of pink or purplish flowers on the ends of the branches.

<i>Leptospermum erubescens</i> Species of shrub

Leptospermum erubescens, commonly known as the roadside tea tree, is a species of shrub that is endemic to southwest of Western Australia. It has thin, fibrous bark, egg-shaped leaves, small white flowers and woody fruit.

References

  1. 1 2 Brophy, Joseph J.; Craven, Lyndley A.; Doran, John C. (2013). Melaleucas : their botany, essential oils and uses. Canberra: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. p. 82. ISBN   9781922137517.
  2. 1 2 3 Holliday, Ivan (2004). Melaleucas : a field and garden guide (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Reed New Holland Publishers. pp. 26–27. ISBN   1876334983.
  3. 1 2 "Melaleuca aspalathoides". APNI. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  4. Schauer, Joseph Conrad (1844). Plantae Preissianae. p. 140.
  5. Paczkowska, Grazyna; Chapman, Alex R. (2000). The Western Australian flora : a descriptive catalogue. Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. p. 391. ISBN   0646402439.
  6. 1 2 "Melaleuca aspalathoides Schauer". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.