Family: Myrtaceae
Melaleuca squamea
Citation:
Labill., Nov. Holl. Pl. Sp. 2:28 (1806).
Synonymy: M. ottonis Schauer in Otto & Dietr., Allg. Gartenz. 3:167 (1835); M. squamea Labill. var. glabra sensu J. Black, Fl. S. Aust. 409 (1926), auct. non Cheel.
Common name: Swamp honey-myrtle, heath honey-myrtle.
Description:
Shrub or small tree 1-6 m high, glabrous except for young shoots white-tomentose and with tufts of more persistent long straight hairs; leaves alternate, narrowly ovate, 4-8 mm long, 1.5-3 mm broad, acuminate-acute and inflexed at the apex, obscurely 3-nerved and punctate-glandular below; petiole 0.5-1 mm long.
Flowers 12-24 in monads in terminal spicate heads with the axis growing on; bracts ovate, 3-5 mm long, 2-3 mm broad, acute, scarious, weakly keeled, sparsely punctate-glandular; hypanthium bell-shaped, c. 3 mm long; sepals triangular, c. 1 mm long; stamens in bundles of 5-7, pink to purple; claw 0.5-1 mm long; free parts of filaments 4-6 mm long.
Fruit scaly, spherical, 5-6 mm diam., truncate, slightly compressed in globular clusters on leafy or woody stems.
Published illustration:
Costermans (1981) Native trees and shrubs of south-eastern Australia, p. 249.
Distribution:
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S.Aust.: SL, KI, SE. N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: in spring.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
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