''Melaleuca diosmifolia'' is a plant in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It has also become

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

Victoria (Australia) Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

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 ...

. It is unusual for its genus in that the flowers are green, which partly accounts for its popularity as a garden plant. It is only distantly related to ''

Melaleuca diosmatifolia ''Melaleuca diosmatifolia'', commonly known as rosy paperbark and pink honey-myrtle is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is native to Queensland and New South Wales in Australia. It was formerly known as ''Melaleuca erubescens'' but ...

'' although its species name has a similar etymology.

Description

''Melaleuca diosmifolia'' is a dense shrub sometimes growing to a height of . The leaves are arranged alternately, narrow oval or elliptical in shape, long, wide, crowded close together and lacking a stalk so that the leaf blade attaches directly to the stem. The flowers are arranged in heads near the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and sometimes in the upper leaf axils. There are 25 to 30 individual flowers in each head, the heads up to long and in diameter. The flowers are bright lime-green or pale yellow-green and appear in spring and early summer. The

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are long and fall off as the flowers age. The stamens are arranged in bundles of five around the flower, with 3 to 5 stamens in each bundle. The fruit are woody capsules up to long and in diameter and form clusters around the stem.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca diosmifolia'' was first formally described in 1807 by

Henry Cranke Andrews Henry Cranke Andrews (floruit, fl. 1794 – 1830), was an English botanist, botanical artist and engraver. As he always published as Henry C. Andrews, and due to difficulty finding records, the C. was often referred to as Charles, until a reco ...

in ''The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants''. 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 ...

(''diosmifolia'') is a reference to the similarity of the leaves of this species and those of '' Diosma''.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca diosmifolia'' occurs near the coast of Western Australia between

Cape Riche Cape Riche is a cape and rural locality in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. By road, it is 525 km south-east of Perth and 123 km north-east of Albany Facilities in the locality include a boat launching ramp and a c ...

and Albany in the

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is a pl ...

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

biogeographic regions. It grows in shallow, sandy soils in granite outcrops. This species has also become naturalised in the

Otway Ranges The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It conta ...

district of Victoria, where it is considered an environmental weed.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca diosmifolia'' 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 is well known in cultivation. It is a hardy and adaptable species in most soils and situations except that it will not survive frosts. It can be pruned to make a useful and attractive screen or hedge.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q310361 diosmifolia Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1807 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Henry Cranke Andrews