''Melaleuca preissiana'', commonly known as stout paperbark, modong or moonah, 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 ...

to coastal areas of

southwest Australia Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna. The region is also known as the Southwest Aus ...

. It is a shrub or small tree with papery bark, small leaves and spikes of usually white flowers. It occurs chiefly in areas that are seasonally wet.

Description

''Melaleuca preissiana'' is a shrub or small tree sometimes growing to tall with papery bark or sometimes pale-coloured, hard bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat, narrow elliptic to narrow egg-shaped with the end tapering to a point. The flowers are usually white, but sometimes a shade of cream or yellow. They are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering and sometimes in the upper leaf axils. The spikes are up to in diameter with 7 to 21 groups of flowers in threes. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower and there are 27 to 36 stamens per bundle. Flowering occurs from August to March and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long. Melaleuca preissiana (habit)

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca preissiana'' was first formally described 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 ...

Johann Georg Christian Lehmann Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (25 February 1792 – 12 February 1860) was a German botanist. Born at Haselau, near Uetersen, Holstein, Lehmann studied medicine in Copenhagen and Göttingen, obtained a doctorate in medicine in 1813 and a doct ...

's 1844 ''Plantae Preissianae'' from a specimen collected by James Drummond. 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 ...

(''preissianna'') honours

Ludwig Preiss Johann August Ludwig Preiss (21 November 1811 – 21 May 1883) was a German-born British botanist and zoologist. Early life Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz. He obtained a doctorate, probably at Hamburg, then emigrated to Western Australia. ...

, a prolific collector of Western Australian plants and animals.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in coastal regions between

Jurien Bay, Western Australia Jurien Bay is a coastal town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, north of Perth facing the Indian Ocean. History The coastline around Jurien Bay was first known to Europeans in the 17th century. In 1801–03, an expedition under the ...

and Albany in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

Geraldton Sandplains Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

, Mallee,

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

biogeographic regions. It is one of three typical trees occurring in the peat of

mound springs of the Swan Coastal Plain Assemblages of plants and invertebrate animals of tumulus (organic mound) springs of the Swan Coastal Plain are ecological communities in Western Australia. They have been managed under a number of other, similar names, including Mound springs of ...

, ecological communities surrounding aquifer discharges of the

Gnangara Mound The Gnangara Mound is an area north of Perth, Western Australia where a large mound of sandy soil reaches an elevation of about . It stores about of fresh water, about one hundred times Perth's current annual water usage. It is currently the si ...

Conservation

''Melaleuca preissiana'' is classified 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 e ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5227619 preissiana Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1844 Trees of Australia Trees of Mediterranean climate Rosids of Western Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Johannes Conrad Schauer