Flora of North America species comparison

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Melaleuca quinquenervia

broad-leaf paperbark, niauoli, punk tree
Habit Trees, 1–18 m; bark papery.
Leaves

alternate;

blade usually narrowly elliptic to elliptic, rarely somewhat falcate, 5.5–12 × 1–3.1 cm, veins 5–7, longitudinal, surfaces glabrescent.
Inflorescences

15–54-flowered, flowers in triads, pseudoterminal, sometimes also axillary distally, to 40 mm wide.
Flowers

calyx lobes glabrous abaxially, margins scarious, 0.3–0.4 mm wide;

petals deciduous, 2.5–3.5 mm;

filaments connate in bundles of 5–10, white, cream, greenish white, green, creamy white, or creamy yellow, 10.5–20 mm, bundle claw 0.9–2.5 mm;

style 11–18 mm;

ovules ca. 50–65 per locule.
Capsules

2.7–4 mm.
Cotyledons

obvolute.
2n

= 22.

Melaleuca quinquenervia
Phenology Flowering year-round (commonly in fall).
Elevation 0–30 m. (0–100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; LA; Asia (Malesia); Pacific Islands (New Caledonia); Australia [Introduced in North America; introduced also elsewhere in Pacific Islands (Hawaii), widely elsewhere]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Melaleuca quinquenervia is a serious woody weed of wetland habitats in Florida and Louisiana. Mechanical control has not been successful and research in recent years has been focused upon biological control.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Myrtaceae > Melaleuca
Sibling taxa
M. citrina, M. linariifolia, M. viminalis
Synonyms Metrosideros quinquenervia
Name authority (Cavanilles) S. T. Blake: Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 69: 76. (1958)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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