''Melaleuca ciliosa'' is a small 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 bright or pale yellow flowers, an unusual

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

and leaves that are slightly hairy, especially around the edges.

Description

''Melaleuca ciliosa'' is shrub to about high but variable in shape. The leaves are also variable in size, from to long and to wide. The edges of the leaves are distinctly hairy, there are a few soft hairs on the surface and many prominent oil glands. The flowers are white or pale yellow and arranged in heads or spikes at or near the ends of the branches which continue to grow after flowering. Each head or spike has 3 to 15 groups of flowers, each group comprising three flowers and up to in diameter. An unusual feature of this melaleuca is that the sepals are joined, forming a continuous ring of thin, dry tissue in a band less than wide around the edge of the flower. The petals fall off as the flower opens and the stamens are joined in five bundles around the edge of the flower, each bundle containing 5 to 11 stamens. Flowering usually occurs in October and November. The fruit are woody, cup-shaped to almost spherical capsules, sometimes scattered and sometimes forming tight bundles of fruits up to long. Melaleuca ciliosa (habit)

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1862 by the Russian botanist Nikolai Turczaninow in ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou''. 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 ...

(''ciliosa'') is from a Latin word ''cilium'' meaning "fine hair", referring to the hairs on the edges of the leaves of this species.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in sand heath between Geraldton and Perth in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

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 ...

. It grows in sand with lateritic gravel in uplands.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca ciliosa'' is listed 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 ...

Use in horticulture

This species adapts to a wide range of soils and conditions but prefers a well-drained soil in a sunny position. Regular pruning help to keep the shrub compact.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15370801 ciliosa Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1862 Rosids of Western Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow