Melaleuca paludicola 

Wikipedia links:      Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids >  Myrtaceae > Melaleuca  paludicola

Other links:     

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 (paludicola) is from the Latin word palus meaning “swamp”, "marsh", "bog" or "fen" and the suffix -cola meaning “inhabitant”

Flowers

• The flowers are a shade of cream to yellow, occasionally pink and are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and also on the sides of the branches

• The spikes are 20–30 mm (0.8–1 in) in diameter with 10 to 40 individual flowers

• The petals are 2.6–4.2 mm long and fall off as the flower ages and there are 48–67 stamens in each flower

• Flowering occurs mainly from October to January 

Fruit:                            

• Woody, cup-shaped capsules, 3–4.3 mm long

Leaves:         

• Arranged alternately and are 20–68 mm long, 1.3–8 mm wide

• Flat, linear to narrow lance-shaped and have a small point at the end

• There is a distinct mid-vein and 11–18 indistinct side veins

Stem & branches: 

• Fibrous bark, or hard, fissured bark on older plants

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A shrub or tree growing to 8 m tall

Habitat:   

• Near rivers, in dry, rocky riverbeds and in flood channels subject to periodic inundation

Distribution:                  

• Melaleuca paludicola occurs from Warwick in the far south east of Queensland, through NSW as far inland as the eastern part of the North West Plains to the eastern half of Victoria

• There is a disjunct population in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Adelaide districts of South Australia

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy and naming

  • Melaleuca paludicola was named in 2006 by Lyndley Craven in Novon when he transferred Callistemon sieberi to the present genus

  • Callistemon sieberi was first formally described by botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1828 in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis

  • An earlier, alternative name (taxonomic synonym) for the species was Callistemon paludosus and the present name was chosen to link with the earlier one

  • Callistemon paludosus is regarded as a synonym of Melaleuca paludicola by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

• Use in horticulture

  • Melaleuca paludicola is sometimes cultivated as Callistemon sieberi

  • An alpine form is a smaller, denser, rounded shrub suitable as a more formal plant