''Melaleuca saligna'' is a shrub or tree 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 ...

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

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_ ...

. It is a small tree with papery bark on the trunk, pendulous branches and white to greenish-yellow flowers between February and November. This species should not be confused with '' Callistemon salignus''. If that species were to be moved 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 ...

'', as proposed by some authors, its name would become ''Melaleuca salicina''. ''Melaleuca saligna'' has its stamens arranged in bundles; the stamens of ''Callistemon salignus''/''Melaleuca salicina'' are all free.

Description

''Melaleuca saligna'' is a small tree with white, grey or brown papery bark which grows to about or sometimes twice as high. Its leaves are light green, narrow elliptic in shape, long and wide. There are 3 to 7 longitudinal veins with a distinct mid-vein. The flowers are white to greenish yellow, arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering or in heads in the upper leaf axils. The spikes contain 5 to 15 groups of flowers in threes and are up to in diameter. The

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 are arranged in five bundles around the flowers and each bundle contains 6 to 9 stamens. Flowering occurs in the dry season between February and November and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules long.

Taxonomy

''Melaleuca saligna'' was first formally described in 1843 by

Johannes Conrad Schauer Johannes Conrad Schauer (16 February 1813 – 24 October 1848) was a botanist interested in Spermatophytes. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and attended the gymnasium of Mainz from 1825 to 1837. For the next three years he worked at the Hofgar ...

in ''Repertorium Botanices Systematicae''. 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 ...

(''saligna'') is a reference to the similarity of the leaves of this species to those of one in the genus ''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

'', family

Salicaceae The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca saligna'' occurs on the Cape York Peninsula as far south as

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

and on some of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...

. It grows in woodland, swamps, sand dunes and the edge of riverbanks, waterholes and tidal creeks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15371887 saligna Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1843 Taxa named by Johannes Conrad Schauer