''Melaleuca plumea'' is a shrub 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 Western Australia. It is a widely spreading, densely foliaged shrub which produces masses of deep pink flowers in spring and early summer. Fluffy hairs on parts of the flowers, including the

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 covering the flower buds, are also a feature.

Description

''Melaleuca plumea'' is a low, ground-hugging shrub growing to a height of and sometimes more than wide. The leaves are arranged alternately, long, wide, linear to narrow oval in shape, the end either round or with a short point. The flowers are a shade of pink or purple. They are arranged in heads near the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and also in some of the upper leaf axils. The flower buds are covered with brown bracts. The bracts, flower bases (

hypanthia In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

) and sepals are all covered with white fluff. Each head contains up to 5 groups of flowers in threes and is up to in diameter. The stamens, which give the flowers their colour, are arranged in 5 bundles around the flower, with 5 to 8 stamens in each bundle. The flowers mainly appear from September to December and are followed by fruit which are woody capsules long in clusters around the stem.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca plumea'' was first described in 1999 by Lyndley Craven in a review of the genus. 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 ...

(''plumea'') is from the Latin ''plumeus'' meaning "downy" referring to the woolly parts of the flowers.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in and between the

Salmon Gums Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus ''Oncorhynch ...

, Scaddan and Mount Beaumont districts in the Esperance Plains 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 ...

growing in sand or clay, on dune slopes and near salt lakes and river flats.

Conservation

''Melaleuca plumea'' is classified 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 ...

Essential oils

The leaves of this species contains mainly monoterpenes, especially 1,8-cineole ( Eucalyptol).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15372199 plumea Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1999 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Lyndley Craven