Family: Myrtaceae
Melaleuca squarrosa
Citation:
Donn ex Smith, Trans. Linn. Soc. 6:300 (1802).
Synonymy: M. myrtifolia Vent., Jard. Malm. 1:t. 47 (1804).
Common name: Bottlebrush tea-tree, scented paper-bark.
Description:
Shrub or tree 3-12 m high, glabrous except for the pubescent young shoots and the densely and more persistently pubescent rhachis; leaves decussate, ovate, 5-10 mm long, 5-7 mm broad, acute, distinctly 5-7-nerved, scattered-glandular below, truncate to cordate at the base; petiole c. 1 mm long.
Flowers in 5-10 pairs of triads in mostly terminal spikes with the axis soon growing on, subtended by deciduous nearly orbicular bracts c. 4 mm long otherwise resembling the leaves; hypanthium cup-shaped, 1.5-2.5 mm long; sepals triangular, c. 1 mm long; stamens in bundles of 7-12, white; claw c. 1 mm long; free parts of filaments 5-6 mm long.
Fruit wrinkled, cylindrical to rounded, 3-4 mm long, truncate, in dense spikes on woody stems.
Published illustration:
Costermans (1981) Native trees and shrubs of south-eastern Australia, p. 251.
Distribution:
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S.Aust.: SE. N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: in late spring and summer.
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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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