''Melaleuca boeophylla'' is a plant in the myrtle family,

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 the south-west of Western Australia. It is similar to a number of other Western Australian melaleucas such as '' M. filifolia'' with its purple pom-pom flower heads but its leaves are shorter and oval in cross-section.

Description

''Melaleuca boeophylla'' is a twiggy shrub which grows to a height of with stems and leaves that are glabrous except when young. Its leaves are arranged alternately, linear to narrow egg-shaped and oval in cross-section, long, wide with the leaf blade having the same dimension as the stalk. The tip of the leaf is a rounded point and the oil glands are distinct. The flowers are a shade of pink to purple and arranged in heads on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering, sometimes also in the leaf axils. The heads are up to in diameter and contain between 6 and 10 groups of flowers in threes. The stamens are arranged in bundles of five around the flower, with 9 to 11 stamens in each bundle. The flowering season is mainly in November and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long, arranged in clusters forming an almost spherical football shape.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca boeophylla'' was first formally described in 1999 by Lyndley Craven and

Brendan Lepschi Brendan John Lepschi (born 1969) is an Australian botanist, whose interests include the taxonomy of the genus ''Melaleuca'', the families Santalaceae and Goodeniaceae and how exotic species become naturalised. He is the curator of the Australi ...

in '' Australian Systematic Botany'' from a specimen collected near the Kalbarri National Park. 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 ...

(''boeophylla'') is from the Greek meaning 'strap' and 'leaf', referring to the leaf shape of this species.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in the Kalbarri district in the Carnarvon and Geraldton Sandplains

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

Conservation status

''Melaleuca boeophylla'' is listed as " Priority Two" by the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and en ...

meaning that it is known from only a few locations but is not currently in imminent danger.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6810993 boeophylla Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1999 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Lyndley Craven