''Melaleuca lara'' is a plant 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 a small area on the west coast of Western Australia. It is similar to '' Melaleuca ciliosa'' with its hairy young leaves and heads of yellow flowers ageing to red but there are fewer flowers in each head and the leaves are generally smaller.

Description

''Melaleuca lara'' is a shrub sometimes growing to tall and wide with branchlets that have soft hairs at first but become glabrous with age. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat, elliptical or egg-shaped and covered with short, soft hairs, especially when young. The oil glands are distinct. The flowers are bright yellow fading to red, arranged in heads on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and sometimes also in the upper leaf axils. The heads are up to in diameter with 2 to 5 groups of flowers in threes. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. There are five bundles of stamens around the flower, each with 9 to 13 stamens. Flowering occurs in early spring and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long in loose clusters along the stem.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca lara'' was first formally described in 1999 by Lyndley Craven in '' Australian Systematic Botany'' from a specimen near the

Z Bend The Z Bend lookout is a popular tourist lookout on the Murchison River Gorge in Western Australia. It is located at ,Gazetteer of Australia (1996). Belconnen, ACT: Australian Surveying and Land Information Group. about east of Kalbarri, in th ...

lookout on the Murchison River in the Kalbarri National Park. 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 ...

(''lara'') is derived from the Ancient Greek word ''laros'' meaning "agreeable", "pleasant" or "lovely" referring to the flowers of this plant species.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca lara'' occurs in the Kalbarri district in the Geraldton Sandplains

biogeographic region An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

. It grows in sand in heath on sandplains near river gorges.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca lara'' 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6811052 lara Plants described in 1999 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Lyndley Craven