''Melaleuca orbicularis'' 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 the south-west of Western Australia. It is similar to ''

Melaleuca cordata ''Melaleuca cordata'' is a plant in the myrtle Family (biology), family Myrtaceae, and is Endemism, endemic to the Southwest Australia, south-west of Western Australia. It is a small shrub with erect branches, heart-shaped leaves and clusters of ...

'' with its pinkish " pom-pom" heads of flowers but its leaves are smaller, almost circular compared to the heart shaped leaves of the other species.

Description

''Melaleuca orbicularis'' is an erect shrub growing to tall. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, heart-shaped to almost circular. The flowers are a shade of pink to purple and are 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 8 groups of flowers in threes. The petals are long and fall off soon after the flower opens. The outer surface of the floral cup (the hypanthium) is hairy and there are five bundles of stamens around the flower, each with 5 to 12 stamens. Flowering occurs from July to January and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long, usually in tight, oval-shaped clusters along the stem. Melaleuca orbicularis habit

Taxonomy and naming

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

Bindi Bindi Bindi Bindi is a small town located between Moora and Wongan Hills in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. It has a population of 59 as of the 2021 census. The town originated as a Western Australian Government Railways siding and wa ...

. 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 ...

(''orbicularis'') is a Latin word meaning "circular" referring to the circular leaves.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca orbicularis'' occurs in and between the Coorong, Wongan Hills and

Cowcowing Cowcowing is a small town located just off the Koorda– Wyalkatchem road from Perth, south of Koorda and north of Wyalkatchem in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The town originated as a railway siding and was later gazetted a ...

districts in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Warren

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 a range of vegetation associations in sand over sandstone and

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

Conservation

''Melaleuca orbicularis'' 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 en ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6811066 orbicularis Plants described in 1999 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Lyndley Craven