''Melaleuca subalaris'' 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 of Western Australia. It is distinguished by its small,

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 ...

leaves and small flower heads which rarely have more than one flower in each inflorescence.

Description

''Melaleuca subalaris'' is a shrub or sometimes a small tree growing to about tall with branches and leaves that are glabrous when mature. Its leaves are arranged in alternating pairs, each pair at right angles to the ones above and below (decussate) so that the leaves form four rows along the stems. Each leaf is long and wide, narrow oval to egg-shaped, oval in cross-section and with a blunt end. The flowers are white to pale yellow and arranged on the side branches. Sometimes there are up to 4 single flowers in a head 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 there are 8 to 18 stamens per bundle. The main flowering period is in September and October and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules long forming loose clusters on the old wood.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca subalaris'' was first formally described in 1988 by Bryan Barlow in Australian Systematic Botany. 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 ...

(''subalaris'') is from the Latin word ''alaris'' meaning "of the wing" and the

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

''-sub'' meaning “under” referring to the flowers being in a spike rather than axillary.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in and between the Peak Charles, Zanthus and Esperance districts in the Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, 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 ...

. It grows in clay or sandy soils on the edges of salt pans.

Conservation

''Melaleuca subalaris'' is listed 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 en ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15371524 subalaris Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1988 Endemic flora of Western Australia