Melaleuca leuropoma
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Overview:
Melaleuca leuropoma is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia
It is a small to medium-sized shrub which flowers over an extended period with flower colour varying from purple to yellow or white
The glossy, often brown petals covering the flower buds are also an unusual characteristic of this species
Common name: ...
Conservation status: ...
Etymology:
Melaleuca is derived from the Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas) meaning "dark" or "black" and λευκός (leukós) meaning "white"
The specific epithet (leuropoma) is derived from ancient Greek words meaning "smooth" or "polished", and "a lid" or "a cover", referring to the unusual, glossy petals covering the flower buds
Flowers
The flowers colour is variable, from pink or purple to yellow or white and shades in between
The flowers are arranged in heads or short spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and sometimes also in the upper leaf axils
The heads are up to 22 mm in diameter with 3 to 12 groups of flowers in threes
The petals are glossy brown in bud, 1.5–3 mm long and fall off soon after the flower opens
The outer surface of the floral cup (the hypanthium) is hairy and there are five bundles of stamens around the flower, each with 7 to 11 stamens
Flowering occurs mainly in spring but often extends into March
Fruit:
Woody, cup-shaped capsules, 2.5–4.5 mm long, usually in tight, almost spherical clusters along the stem
Leaves:
Its leaves are arranged alternately and are 4–17 mm long, 0.6–1.5 mm wide, linear to very narrow egg-shaped and elliptic to almost circular in cross section
They are also glossy and often have short, silky hairs
Stem & branches:
Roots:
Habit:
A shrub sometimes growing to 1.5 m
Habitat:
A range of vegetation associations in sand over sandstone and limestone
Distribution:
Between the Kalbarri, Gairdner Range and Moora districts in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Melaleuca leuropoma was first formally described in 1999 by Lyndley Craven in Australian Systematic Botany from a specimen collected 11 km north of Eneabba
Sources of information: