''Melaleuca squamophloia'' 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 black soil plains of south eastern Queensland in

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 ...

. Like its close relative '' Melaleuca styphelioides'', it is a small, erect tree with prickly leaves and spikes of cream or white flowers but its bark is hard rather than papery and the leaves have fewer veins than that species.

Description

''Melaleuca squamophloia'' is a shrub or small tree growing to high, with hard, scaly or fibrous bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately, long, wide, narrow egg-shaped with the end tapering to a sharp, prickly point and with 3 to 15 veins. Melaleuca squamophloia habit

The flowers are white or cream-coloured and are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and on the sides of the branches. Each spike contains 5 to 16 individual flowers and is up to in diameter. 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 opens or soon after. 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 15 to 20 stamens. Flowering occurs in spring and from April to June, and is followed by fruit which are woody, almost spherical capsules, long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca squamophloia'' was first named in 1997 by Lyndley Craven and Bryan Barlow in ''

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 ...

''. It was first formally described in 1984 as ''Melaleuca styphelioides'' var. ''squamophloia'' by Norman Byrnes. 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 ...

(''squamophloia'') is from the Latin word ''squama'' meaning "scale" and the Ancient Greek word ''φλοιός (phloiós)'' meaning “bark” referring to the bark of this species which is hard and scaly.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs on the black soil plains in and between the

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

, Jandowae and Tara districts of south east Queensland. It grows in woodland and

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...

in clay and clay loam.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6811093 squamophloia Myrtales of Australia Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1984