''Melaleuca pancheri'' is a shrub or small tree 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 of

Grande Terre Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places *Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroio ...

, the main island of

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

. It is one of only a few members of its genus to occur outside

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and was formerly known as ''Callistemon pancheri'' Brongn. &

Gris ''Gris'' is a platform-adventure game by Spanish developer Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released for macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows in December 2018, for iOS in August 2019, for PlayStation 4 in November 20 ...

Description

''Melaleuca pancheri'' grows to a height of about , has a rounded canopy and thick, papery bark. Its younger branchlets are covered with dense, woolly hairs and the young leaves are hairy and silvery-grey at first but become glabrous as they mature. The leaves are long, wide, have short stalks, are narrow egg-shaped tapering towards the base and rounded at the tips. The flowers are a shade of yellow to yellow-green and are arranged in spherical heads on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The stamens surrounding the flower are not in bundles and there are 16 to 20 stamens per flower. Flowering can occur at any time of the year but mostly occurs between May and August. The fruit which follow are hairy, woody capsules about long.

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described in 1864 in by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart and Jacques Le Gris in ''

Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

'' as ''Callistemon pancheri''. In 1998, the species was transferred 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 ...

'' by Lyndley Craven and

J.W.Dawson John Wyndham Dawson (1 February 1928 – 11 March 2019) was a New Zealand botanist. Early life and education Dawson was born in Eketāhuna on 1 February 1928. He was educated at Eketahuna District High School and Christchurch Boys' High School. ...

. 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 ...

(''pancheri'') honours the French explorer

Jean Armand Isidore Pancher Jean Armand Isidore Pancher (1 January 1814, in Versailles – 8 March 1877) was a French gardener and botanist. Beginning in 1835, he worked as gardener with at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. From 1849 to 1856, he served as a "jar ...

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca pancheri'' is found only on

, the main island of

. It occurs in moist forest and scrub in the south of the island at altitudes between growing in deep

lateritic 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 ...

soils over ultramafic rock.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6811069 pancherii Endemic flora of New Caledonia Plants described in 1864 Taxa named by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart Taxa named by Jean Antoine Arthur Gris