Melaleuca saligna

Last updated

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

Melaleuca saligna is a shrub or tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) and is endemic to the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. It is a small tree with papery bark on the trunk, pendulous branches and white to greenish-yellow flowers between February and November. This species should not be confused with Callistemon salignus . If that species were to be moved to the genus Melaleuca , as proposed by some authors, its name would become Melaleuca salicina. Melaleuca saligna has its stamens arranged in bundles; the stamens of Callistemon salignus/Melaleuca salicina are all free.

Contents

Description

Melaleuca saligna is a small tree with white, grey or brown papery bark which grows to about 10 m (30 ft) or sometimes twice as high. Its leaves are light green, narrow elliptic in shape, 30–120 mm (1–5 in) long and 5–18 mm (0.2–0.7 in) wide. There are 3 to 7 longitudinal veins with a distinct mid-vein. [2]

The flowers are white to greenish yellow, arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering or in heads in the upper leaf axils. The spikes contain 5 to 15 groups of flowers in threes and are up to 23 mm (0.9 in) in diameter. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flowers and each bundle contains 6 to 9 stamens. Flowering occurs in the dry season between February and November and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules 1.5–2.5 mm (0.06–0.1 in) long. [2] [3]

Taxonomy

Melaleuca saligna was first formally described in 1843 by Johannes Conrad Schauer in Repertorium Botanices Systematicae. [1] [4] The specific epithet (saligna) is a reference to the similarity of the leaves of this species to those of one in the genus Salix , family Salicaceae. [2]

Distribution and habitat

Melaleuca saligna occurs on the Cape York Peninsula as far south as Cooktown and on some of the Torres Strait Islands. It grows in woodland, swamps, sand dunes and the edge of riverbanks, waterholes and tidal creeks. [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

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

Melaleuca viminalis, commonly known as weeping bottlebrush, or creek bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. It is a multi-trunked, large shrub or tree with hard bark, often pendulous foliage and large numbers of bright red bottlebrush flowers in spring and summer. It is possibly the most commonly cultivated melaleuca in gardens and its cultivars are often grown in many countries.

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

Melaleuca squamophloia is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the black soil plains of south eastern Queensland in Australia. Like its close relative Melaleuca styphelioides, it is a small, erect tree with prickly leaves and spikes of cream or white flowers but its bark is hard rather than papery and the leaves have fewer veins than that species.

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

Melaleuca faucicola commonly known as desert bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the Northern Territory in Australia. It is a shrub or small tree growing only in protected gorges in the ranges of Central Australia such as the Petermann Ranges and has red, cream or white spikes of flowers.

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

Melaleuca pallida, commonly known as lemon bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an upright shrub with thin, spreading branches, silvery new growth and pale yellow, sometimes pinkish bottlebrush flowers.

Melaleuca clarksonii, commonly known as Alice River bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. It is similar to Melaleuca cajuputi and Melaleuca leucadendra with its broad leaves and spikes of creamy-coloured flowers but is distinguished from them by its (usually) hard, fibrous bark.

<i>Melaleuca brevifolia</i> Species of plant

Melaleuca brevifolia, commonly known as mallee honey-myrtle, short-leaf honey-myrtle, or d'Alton's melaleuca is a shrub or tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is native to western Victoria, south-eastern South Australia and the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with rough, corky bark and a large number of heads of white to yellowish flowers on the previous season's growth. It is a moderately hardy garden plant.

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

Melaleuca nervosa, commonly known as fibrebark, is a shrub or tree in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a narrow-leaved, tropical paperbark with yellow-green and red-flowering forms. As with some other melaleucas, this species has many uses to Indigenous Australians.

Melaleuca arcana is a small tree or large shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Cape York Peninsula in northern Australia. It has papery bark and small heads of white flowers in summer.

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

Melaleuca fluviatilis is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to northern Queensland in Australia. It is a tree with papery bark, narrow leaves and spikes of white or creamy-coloured flowers, usually growing along streams and rivers. It is common in tropical areas and is sometimes confused with Melaleuca argentea although it lacks that species' silvery foliage.

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

Melaleuca sieberi is a shrub or tree in the myrtle, family Myrtaceae, which is endemic to coastal areas of New South Wales and Queensland. It is a large shrub or small tree with papery bark on the trunk, small, sharp leaves and small heads of fluffy flowers in spring. It should not be confused with Callistemon sieberi. When the callistemons were moved to Melaleuca, Callistemon sieberi became Melaleuca paludicola.

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

Melaleuca stenostachya, commonly known as fibre-barked teatree or straight teatree is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is native to the Cape York Peninsula in northern Australia, the gulf country of the Northern Territory and the south of Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to Melaleuca dealbata but can be distinguished from that species by the wide separation of the flowers in the inflorescence.

Melaleuca ferruginea is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to areas near the coast of the Northern Territory in Australia. It grows to tree size, its new bark is reddish-brown and papery, and its flowers are arranged in spikes new the ends of its branches.

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

Melaleuca pyramidalis is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to small areas of Queensland in Australia. It is closely related to Melaleuca citrina but is distinguished from it mainly by leaf and stamen differences. Melaleuca pyramidalis is only known from the summits of three mountains in Queensland.

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

Melaleuca flavovirens, commonly known as green bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area near the New South Wales–Queensland border in Australia. It is a stiff shrub, distinguished by its silvery new growth and spikes of greenish flowers with yellow tips.

Melaleuca hemisticta, commonly known as Mount Wheeler bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to coastal areas of Queensland. It is a tall, bushy shrub with dark green leaves and red flowers spikes tipped with yellow.

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

Melaleuca pearsonii, commonly known as Blackdown bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Queensland in Australia. It is a small, spreading but compact shrub with hard bark, soft foliage and profuse spikes of bottlebrush flowers in spring and summer.

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

Melaleuca salicina, commonly known as willow bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name Callistemon salignus, a name that is accepted by the Australian Plant Census. It is a shrub or small tree with soft foliage, pink new growth, white papery bark and spikes of usually white or creamy bottlebrush flowers in spring.

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

Melaleuca serpentina is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the Barraba district in Australia. It is a shrub with yellow or creamy-green bottlebrush flowers. It is similar to Melaleuca citrina but can be distinguished from that species by its flower colour and its shorter stamens.

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

Melaleuca shiressii is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in New South Wales in Australia. It is rare shrub or small tree with pale, papery bark, sharp-pointed leaves and spikes of white to pale cream bottlebrush flowers in spring and summer.

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

Leptospermum divaricatum is a species of plant that is endemic to inland New South Wales. It is an erect or weeping shrub with compact fibrous bark, elliptical to egg-shaped leaves, white flowers arranged singly on short axillary side shoots and woody fruit that fall off when mature.

References

  1. 1 2 "Melaleuca saligna". APNI. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 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. 313. ISBN   9781922137517.
  3. 1 2 Holliday, Ivan (2004). Melaleucas: a field and garden guide (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Reed New Holland Publishers. p. 80. ISBN   1876334983.
  4. Walpers, Guiglielmo (ed) (1843). Repertorium Botanices Systematicae. p. 927. Retrieved 19 April 2015.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)