''Melaleuca bracteosa'' is a low, spreading shrub 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 The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

of Western Australia. It has tiny, fleshy, non-prickly leaves and cream flowerheads.

Description

''Melaleuca bracteosa'' is sometimes an erect shrub to a height of but is more usually a low, dense spreading shrub to about . Its leaves are narrow oval in shape, long and , glabrous, bright green and fleshy with a blunt tip. The flowers are usually bright cream coloured but sometimes white or mauve-pink. They are in heads, sometimes on the ends of branches and sometimes on the sides of the stem, each head about in diameter and containing 5 to 20 individual flowers. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower, each bundle containing 3 to 8 stamens. The flowering season lasts from August to November and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules long.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1847 by the Russian botanist Nikolai Turczaninow in ''Bulletin de la classe physico-mathematique de l'Academie Imperiale des sciences de Saint-Petersburg''. 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 ...

(''bracteosa'') is from the Latin ''bractea'', meaning

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

, referring to the persistent bracts of the flowers.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs from the

Pingrup Pingrup is a small town in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia. The name of the town is Indigenous Australian in origin and was the name of a lake that is close to the townsite. The meaning of Ping ...

district south to Albany and east to

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Mallee biogeographic regions. It grows in sand, loam or clay on winter-wet flats or plains often under low trees or tall shrubs.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca bracteosa'' is classified as "not threatened" 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 e ...

Uses

Essential oils

This species produces sesquiterpene oils at a rate of 0.3% (weight for weight) from fresh leaves.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15370037 bracteosa Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1847 Rosids of Western Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow