''Melaleuca buseana'' is a shrub or small tree 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 ...

and was formerly known as ''Callistemon buseanus''.

Description

''Melaleuca brevisepala'' is a shrub or small tree growing to a height of . It has a highly branched crown and the branchlets are covered with fine white hairs but become glabrous with age. The leaves have a short stalk and an elliptical shape with a blunt end, long and wide and 3 to 5 parallel veins. Yellow or greenish-yellow flowers occur on the ends of the branches and in some leaf axils near the end but the branch usually continues to grow after flowering. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower with 3 or 4 stamens per bundle. The cup-shaped base of the flower is hairy, long and the fruit which develops from it is long. Flowers and fruit are seen from December to May or June.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca buseana'' was first formally described in 1939 by André Guillaumin in ''Bulletin du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle'' as ''Callistemon buseanus''. It was transferred to ''Melaleuca buseana'' in 1998 by Lyndley Craven and John Dawson in the journal ''Adansonia''. 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 ...

(''buseana'') refers to the locality Pic Buse in New Caledonia.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca buseana'' is sparsely distributed in the southern part of Grande Terre. It is found in the undergrowth of dense, humid forest and

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 ...

in loose, eroded gravel and soil on ultramafic rock.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15370724 buseana Flora of New Caledonia Plants described in 1939