''Melaleuca lutea'' 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 Western Australia. This species was previously known as ''Melaleuca citrina'' but was renamed to allow ''Callistemon citrinus'' to be moved to the genus ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

''. It is distinguished by its oval shaped, dense heads of yellow flowers and bushy foliage.

Description

''Melaleuca lutea'' is an erect shrub which grows to a height of about . Its leaves are a very narrow oval shape, long, wide, mostly glabrous with a blunt end. The bright yellow flowers are arranged in oval-shaped spikes, often on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes contain 10 to 18 groups of flowers in threes, densely packed together, each spike up to long. The stamens are in five bundles around the flower, each bundle with 5 to 9 stamens. Flowering occurs in late spring and the fruit which follow are rounded, woody capsules long in tight clusters along the stem.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca lutea'' was previously known as ''Melaleuca citrina'', first described in 1852 by Nikolai Turczaninow in ''Bulletin de la classe physico-mathematique de l'Academie Imperiale des sciences de Saint-Petersburg''. In 2006, Lyndley Craven proposed that all callistemons be moved to the genus ''Melaleuca''. The move meant that ''Callistemon citrinus'' would become ''Melaleuca citrina''. That name was already in use (a homonym). As a result, the name of the former ''Melaleuca citrina'' was changed to ''Melaleuca lutea''. 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 ...

is a Latin word meaning "yellow" referring to the flower colour of this melaleuca.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in heath and shrub from the Porongurup and

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...

National Parks to the Hopetoun district in the Esperance Plains

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 sandy soils on rocky hills.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca lutea'' 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

''Melaleuca lutea'' is well known in cultivation (usually as ''Melaleuca citrina'') in Western Australia, growing in a range of soil types.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17595979 lutea Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 2010 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Lyndley Craven