Citation: F. Muell., Linnaea 25:387 (1853).

Synonymy: Melaleuca orophila

Common name: Flinders Ranges bottlebrush, needle bottlebrush, Flinders Ranges red bottlebrush.

Description:
Shrub to c. 1.5 m tall; bark fissured; branches rigid; leaves rigid, terete, sessile or almost so, usually 50-110 mm long including the pungent mucro and 1-1.5 mm wide, sometimes grooved below, oil glands few and scattered.

Spike dense, usually 50-70 mm long and 45-50 mm broad, rhachis glabrous to villous; hypanthium pubescent, c. 3.5-4 mm long, ovary sunk to about half the depth of the hypanthium; sepals c. 1.5 mm long, margin ciliate; petals c. 5 mm long and c. 5 mm wide, pubescent to glabrous outside, glabrous inside, margin ciliate, green; stamens 15-20 mm long; filaments crimson, bearded at the base; anthers usually purple, 1.25-1.5 mm long; style distinctly capitate, the same colour as the stamens and also bearded at the base, equal to or slightly exceeding the stamens.

Fruit smooth, 5-7 mm long and 5-8 mm wide, mouth constricted.

Published illustration: Beek &. Foster (1972) Wild flowers of South Australia.

Distribution:  Found mostly on rocky hillsides, ridges and spurs in tough scrub. S.Aust.: FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, SL, SE. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Oct. — Dec.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available