''Melaleuca leptospermoides'' 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 in 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 is an erect shrub with narrow leaves, pinkish or purple flowers and small fruit, and is similar to '' Melaleuca tuberculata'' except that it lacks brown

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s at the base of the flowers.

Description

''Melaleuca leptospermoides'' is a shrub growing to a height of . The leaves are arranged alternately, are long, wide and linear to narrow oval in shape. Purple, mauve, magenta or pink flowers appear in heads at or near the ends of the branches. The heads are composed of one to four groups of flowers with three flowers in each group and are up to in diameter. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower, each bundle having 8 to 12 stamens. Flowering occurs between September and November and the fruit which follow are woody capsules, long. Melaleuca leptospermoides (habit)

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1844 by Johannes Conrad Schauer in ''Plantae Preissianae''. 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 ...

(''leptospermoides'') refers to the similarity of this species to a

leptospermum ''Leptospermum'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae commonly known as tea trees, although this name is sometimes also used for some species of ''Melaleuca''. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greate ...

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca leptospermoides'' occurs from the Cadoux- Brookton districts eastwards to the Coolgardie-

Lake King Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...

districts in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Mallee

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, gravel or clay on undulating sandplains and salt lakes.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca leptospermoides'' 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

Essential oils

The oil from the leaves of this species consists mainly of monoterpenes at the rate of 0.2-0.5% (fresh weight/weight).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15371063 leptospermoides Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1844 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Johannes Conrad Schauer