''Melaleuca sciotostyla'', commonly known as Wongan melaleuca, is a plant 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-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

of Western Australia. It is an endangered species with only 476 mature plants known in 2001. It is closely related and very similar to ''

Melaleuca haplantha ''Melaleuca haplantha'' is a shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It was first described as a new species in 1988 when Bryan Barlow undertook a review of '' Melaleuca cuticularis'' and f ...

'' but has narrower leaves and fewer stamens per flower than that species.

Description

''Melaleuca sciotostyla'' is a shrub to about tall. Its leaves are arranged in alternating pairs, each pair at right angles to the ones above and below (

decussate Decussation is used in biological contexts to describe a crossing (due to the shape of the Roman numeral for ten, an uppercase 'X' (), ). In Latin anatomical terms, the form is used, e.g. . Similarly, the anatomical term chiasma is named aft ...

) so that the leaves form four rows along the stems. Each leaf is long and wide, linear to narrow elliptic in shape, slightly fleshy and with the end tapering to a point. The flowers are cream to white and arranged in small heads on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and sometimes in the upper leaf axils. Each head is up to in diameter and contains up to four individual flowers. 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 there are 12 to 17 stamens per bundle. The main flowering period is in early spring and is followed by the fruit which are papery or corky, barrel-shaped capsules long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca sciotostyla'' was first formally described in 1988 by Bryan Barlow in Australian Systematic Botany as a new species. 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 ...

(''sciotostyla'') is from the Ancient Greek ''skiotos'' meaning "shaded by gradation in colour" referring to the coloration of the end of the style which appears to have been dyed.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca sciotostyla'' is confined to the Cadoux,

Wongan Hills Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion of Western Australia. It is located at , in the Shire of Wongan–Ballidu. History The range was first recorded in 1836 by Surveyor General of Western Australia Jo ...

and Meckering districts in the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest

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 clayey sand and

laterite 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 ...

on scree slopes.

Conservation

''Melaleuca sciotostyla'' is listed as "endangered" by the Australian Government Department of the Environment. It is classed as " Declared Rare and Priority Flora" 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 ...

meaning that it is likely to become extinct or rare and therefore in need of special protection.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15372309 sciotostyla Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1988 Endemic flora of Western Australia