Melaleuca quinquenervia |
Melaleuca viminalis |
|
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broad-leaf paperbark, niauoli, punk tree |
weeping bottlebrush |
|
Habit | Trees, 1–18 m; bark papery. | Shrubs or trees, 1–35 m; bark fibrous, hard. |
Leaves | alternate; blade usually narrowly elliptic to elliptic, rarely somewhat falcate, 5.5–12 × 1–3.1 cm, veins 5–7, longitudinal, surfaces glabrescent. |
alternate; blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic or narrowly obovate, 2.5–13.8 × 0.3–2.7 cm, veins pinnate, surfaces glabrescent. |
Inflorescences | 15–54-flowered, flowers in triads, pseudoterminal, sometimes also axillary distally, to 40 mm wide. |
15–50-flowered, flowers in monads, pseudoterminal or interstitial, 35–50 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. |
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 | 2.7–4 mm. |
3.8–4.8 mm. |
Cotyledons | obvolute. |
obvolute. |
2n | = 22. |
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Melaleuca quinquenervia |
Melaleuca viminalis |
|
Phenology | Flowering year-round (commonly in fall). | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Disturbed riparian areas. | |
Elevation | 0–30 m. [0–100 ft.] | 0–400 m. [0–1300 ft.] |
Distribution |
FL; LA; Asia (Malesia); Pacific Islands (New Caledonia); Australia [Introduced in North America; introduced also elsewhere in Pacific Islands (Hawaii), widely elsewhere] |
CA; FL; Australia [Introduced in North America] |
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.) |
Melaleuca viminalis is well known in cultivation and is widely grown for its showy flowers. The species is an unusual member of the bottlebrush group of Melaleuca in that its staminal filaments are connate into five bundles; most other species of bottlebrush have distinct stamens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Metrosideros quinquenervia | Metrosiderosviminalis solander, Callistemon viminalis |
Name authority | (Cavanilles) S. T. Blake: Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 69: 76. (1958) | (Solander ex Gaertner) Byrnes: Austrobaileya 2: 75. (1984) |
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