''Melaleuca biconvexa'' is a tree or shrub in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

and is endemic to coastal areas of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The leaves have a distinctive, wing-like shape and the flowers are in white or cream-coloured heads at the ends of its branches. It is classified as a vulnerable species.

Description

''Melaleuca biconvexa'' grows to a height of (sometimes to ) and has fibrous to papery bark. Its leaves are arranged in alternating pairs (

decussate Decussation is used in biological contexts to describe a crossing (due to the shape of the Roman numeral for ten, an uppercase 'X' (), ). In Latin anatomical terms, the form is used, e.g. . Similarly, the anatomical term chiasma is named aft ...

), long and wide, narrow oval in shape. The leaves are distinctive in having the mid-vein in a groove with either side of the leaf blade curving up wing-like from this vein. The flowers are cream to white, at or near the ends of the branches in heads of 2 to 10 flowers, the heads up to in diameter. The

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are arranged in five bundles around the flower with 10 to 20 stamens per bundle. Flowering occurs over 3 to 4 weeks in September and November and is followed by fruit which are urn-shaped, woody capsules about in diameter and long with the

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s remaining as teeth on the rim.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca boconvexa'' was first formally described in 1984 by Norman Byrnes in the journal ''

Austrobaileya ''Austrobaileya'' is the sole genus consisting of a single species that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae. The species ''Austrobaileya scandens'' grows naturally only in the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeast ...

''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''biconvexa'') refers to the shape of the leaves in cross section. The name '' Melaleuca pauciflora''

Turcz. Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow ( ru , Николай Степанович Турчанинов, 1796 in Nikitovka, now in Krasnogvardeysky District, Belgorod Oblast, Russia – 1863 in Kharkov) was a Russian botanist and plant collector who ...

was misapplied to this taxon for many years before Byrnes's 1984 paper.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in scattered populations in coastal areas from

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, said to possess the whitest sand in the world. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia ...

. It grows in damp places, often near streams or low-lying areas, often in eucalypt forest on sandy alluvial soil, on low slopes and sheltered places.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca biconvexa'' is able to resprout after fire but faces a number of threats to its survival including land clearing, alteration of drainage patterns and swamp reclamation, grazing and trampling by stock and competition from noxious aquatic weeds such as '' Sagittaria platyphylla''. Most populations are on private land, making conservation efforts difficult and the species has been classified as vulnerable under the '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''. Image:Melaleuca biconvexa (habit).jpg, Habit in

Image:Melaleuca biconvexa (flower detail).jpg, Flower detail Image:Melaleuca biconvexa (bark).jpg, Bark

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15370720 biconvexa Flora of New South Wales Myrtales of Australia Vulnerable flora of Australia Plants described in 1984 Taxa named by Norman Brice Byrnes