''Melaleuca brongniartii'' is a 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 of

Grande Terre Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places *Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroio ...

, the main island of

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

. It is one of only a few members of its genus to occur outside

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

''Melaleuca brongniartii'' is a shrub that can grow to a height of with a pale grey, papery bark. The leaves and branches are covered with fine hairs at first, but become glabrous as they mature. Its leaves are leathery, with a very short stalk and are long and wide. They vary in shape from linear to narrow-elliptic in shape, with the end tapering to a point and have 3 to 5 parallel veins. The flowers are white and occur in small heads on the ends of the branches which continue to grow after flowering. The stamens are arranged in bundles joined at the base and there are 5 to 6 stamens per bundle. Flowering occurs throughout the year but mainly in summer. The fruit are woody capsules long which are hairy on the outer surface.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca brongniartii'' was first formally described in 1933 by Albert Ulrich Däniker in ''Vierteljahrsschrift der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich''. 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 ...

(''brongniartii'') honours Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart who contributed to knowledge of the flora of New Caledonia.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca is found in the southern part of Grande Terre. It grows in

maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The network ...

, along watercourses, areas that are subject to flooding and in

lateritic Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

soils on ultramafic rock.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15370458 brongniartii Flora of New Caledonia Plants described in 1933