''Melaleuca pustulata'', commonly known as yellow paperbark, warty paperbark or Cranbrook paperbark 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 ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

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 ...

. It is an uncommon shrub, one of only two melaleucas that are endemic to that state and one of only eight found naturally occurring there. It has thick, pimply leaves, hairy new growth and large numbers of heads of pale yellow, fragrant flowers in spring or early summer.

Description

''Melaleuca pustulata'' is a densely foliaged shrub, growing to tall with hairy new growth. Its leaves are arranged alternately, sometimes in groups of three and are long, wide, very narrow elliptic to very narrow egg-shaped, roughly semi-circular in cross section and with the ends tapering to a point. The mature leaves have distinct raised oil glands giving the leaves a blistered appearance. The flowers are white to yellowish, scented and arranged in spikes or heads on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering. The heads are up to in diameter and contain 15 to 30 individual flowers. The

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are long and fall off as the flower matures. There are five bundles of

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s around the flower, each with 5 to 9 stamens. Flowering occurs from September to January and is followed by fruit that are woody, cup-shaped capsules, long in cylindrical clusters along the stem. ''Melaleuca pustulata'' is sometimes confused with '' Melaleuca ericifolia'', which also occurs naturally in Tasmania; however, the leaves of that species lack the raised oil glands of ''M. pustulata'' and the outer surface of its flower cup (

hypanthium 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 ...

) is hairy.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca pustulata'' was first formally described in 1847 by Joseph Hooker from specimens collected "in

Campbell Town Campbell Town is a town in Tasmania, Australia, on the Midland Highway. At the 2021 census, the town had a population of 823. History Traditional owners of the Campbell Town area The traditional custodians of the Campbell Town area were t ...

and Oyster Bay". 'Melaleuca' is derived from Greek and means 'black and white', a reference to the color of the bark.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 254 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 ...

(''pustulata'') is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''pustula'' meaning "pimple", "blister" or "bubble", referring to the prominent oil glands on the leaves of this species.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs near the east coast of Tasmania usually in dry heath, often on shallow soils derived from

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

Conservation status

''Melaleuca pustulata'' is declared a rare species under the Tasmanian Government ''

Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 The ''Threatened Species Protection Act 1995'' (TSP Act), is an act of the Parliament of Tasmania that provides the statute relating to conservation of flora and fauna. Its long title is An Act to provide for the protection and management of th ...

''.

Use in horticulture

''Melaleuca pustulata'' is a useful plant for hedges and windbreaks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15371066 Flora of Tasmania pustulata Plants described in 1847