Melaleuca viminalis (Sol. ex Gaertn.) Byrnes

Scientific Name: Melaleuca viminalis (Sol. ex Gaertn.) Byrnes

Family: Myrtaceae

Common Name: Weeping Bottle brush

Hindi Name: चील

Description: Shrubs or trees, 1–35 m; bark fibrous, hard. Leaves alternate; blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic or narrowly obovate, 2.5–13.8 × 0.3–2.7 cm, veins pinnate, surfaces glabrescent. Inflorescences 15–50-flowered, flowers in monads, pseudoterminal or interstitial, 35–50 mm wide. Flowers: calyx lobes hairy or glabrescent abaxially, margins herbaceous; petals deciduous, 3.4–5.9 mm; filaments connate in bundles of 9–14, usually in 5 distinct bundles, these sometimes obscure, especially when claw is very short, red or crimson, 13–26 mm, bundle claw to 2.2 mm; style 16–29 mm; ovules ca. 100 per locule. Capsules 3.8–4.8 mm. Cotyledons obvolute.

Economic Importance: 

Melaleuca viminalis are used for forestry, essential oil production, farm tree/windbreak plantings, degraded-land reclamation and ornamental horticulture. They are also used as weed control and as bioindicators for environmental management.

Medicinal Importance: 

In China, Melaleuca viminalis, is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine pills for treating hemorrhoids