''Melaleuca phratra'' is a plant in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

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 ...

. (Some Australian state herbaria use the name ''Callistemon phratra''.) It is a large shrub similar to ''

Melaleuca paludicola ''Melaleuca paludicola'', commonly known as river bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. (Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the names ''Callistemon sieberi'' or ''Callistemon pal ...

'' but has flower spikes that are a shade of pink.

Description

''Melaleuca phratra'' is a large shrub or small growing to tall with hard, brown or grey to black fissured bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat, narrow elliptic in shape with a mid-vein and 13 to 24 indistinct lateral veins. The leaves usually have some thickening at the mid-vein and prominent oil glands. The flowers are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering or on the sides of the branches and are in diameter with 10 to 30 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages and there are 47–72 stamens in each flower. The filaments of the stamens are pink with a yellow anther. Flowering occurs from November to February and is followed by fruit that are woody capsules, long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca phratra'' was first formally described in 2009 by

Lyndley Craven Lyndley Alan Craven (3 September 1945 – 11 July 2014) was a botanist who became the Principal Research Scientist of the Australian National Herbarium. Lyndley ("Lyn") Craven worked for the CSIRO plant taxonomy unit of the New Guinea Survey Gro ...

Novon The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million s ...

. 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 ...

(''phratra'') is from the Greek word ''phratra'' meaning "clan" or "brotherhood" referring to the similarity of this species to '' M. paludicola'', '' M. quercina'' and '' M. sabrina''. ''Callistemon phratra'' is regarded as a synonym of ''Melaleuca phratra'' by the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in and between the

Injune Injune is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Injune had a population of 461 people. Geography Injune is a small town in South West Queensland. I ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

districts in Queensland. It grows along creek banks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20721780 phratra Flora of Queensland Plants described in 2009 Taxa named by Lyndley Craven