''Melaleuca hamata'' 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 ...
of
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 grows to a large, dense shrub with broombrush foliage and profuse pale yellow flowers in late spring.
Description
''Melaleuca hamata'' is a large shrub, sometimes a small tree growing to a height of , with flaking papery bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately, upward-pointing and needle-like, up to long and in diameter and with a sharp tip which is often hooked.
The flowers are a shade of yellow, through cream to white. They are in almost spherical heads in many of the upper leaf axils, each head about in diameter and containing 5 to 15 groups of flowers in threes. The petals are long and often fall off as soon as the flower opens. The stamens, which give the flowers their colour, are arranged in five bundles around the flower with 3 to 8 stamens per bundle. Flowering occurs through spring and early summer and is followed by fruit which are woody
capsules forming oval-shaped clusters up to in diameter.
Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described in 1844 by
Henry Barron Fielding and
Charles Austin Gardner
Charles Austin Gardner (6 January 1896 – 24 February 1970) was an English-born Western Australian botanist.
Biography
Born in Lancaster, in England, on 6 January 1896, Gardner emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1909, whe ...
in ''Sertum Plantarum: or drawings and descriptions of rare and undescribed plants from the author's herbarium ''.
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 ...
(''hamata'') is from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word ''hamus'' meaning "a hook" or "angle"
referring to the curved ends of the leaves.
Distribution and habitat
''Melaleuca hamata'' occurs in and between the districts of
Mount Gibson,
Nyabing,
Leinster
Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...
and
Munglinup in the
Avon Wheatbelt
The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.
Geography
The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...
,
Coolgardie,
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 ...
,
Gascoyne
The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...
,
Geraldton Sandplains
Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth.
At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...
,
Great Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.
History
In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...
,
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 ...
,
Little Sandy Desert
The Little Sandy Desert (LSD) is a desert region in the state of Western Australia, lying to the east of the Pilbara and north of the Gascoyne regions. It is part of the Western Desert cultural region, and was declared an interim Australian ...
,
Mallee,
Murchison and
Yalgoo biogeographic regions. It grows on a wide range of soils in a range of vegetation associations
and is the most common brushwood species in the wheatbelt.
Conservation status
This melaleuca 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 ...
.
[
]
Uses
Agriculture
In field trials for evaluating different species melaleucas as a source of brushwood, ''Melaleuca hamata'' was proven to be the species best suited to the heavy loams that dominate large areas of Western Australia.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15371117
hamata
Myrtales of Australia
Rosids of Western Australia
Plants described in 1844
Endemic flora of Western Australia