''Melaleuca linearis'', commonly known as narrow-leaved bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in Australia. It is a medium-sized shrub with narrow leaves with a rigid point, and red flower spikes in late spring or early summer.

Description

''Melaleuca linearis'' is a shrub growing to tall with grey, hard, fibrous bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, narrow linear in shape and flat to channelled or semi-circular in cross section. There is a mid-vein but the lateral veins are inconspicuous. The flowers are a shade of red, rarely green and arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering and also on the sides of the branches. The spikes are in diameter and long with 20 to 90 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages and there are 23–73 stamens in each flower. Flowering occurs from late spring to early summer and is followed by fruits that are woody capsules, long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca linearis'' was first formally described in 1796 by Heinrich Schrader and

Johann Christoph Wendland Johann Christoph Wendland (July 17, 1755 – July 27, 1828) was a German botanist and gardener born in Petit-Landau, Alsace. Family His son, Heinrich Wendland, Heinrich Ludolph Wendland (1791–1869), and his grandson, Hermann Wendland ( ...

in '' Sertum Hannoveranum''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''linearis'') is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''linearis'' meaning "linear" in reference to the shape of the leaves of this species. In 2006, Craven described two varieties of ''Melaleuca linearis'' in the journal '' Novon'': * ''Melaleuca linearis'' Schrad. & J.C.Wendl. var. ''linearis'' has leaves that are more than wide, usually 23–33 stamens per flower and occurs in Queensland south to the

Coonabarabran Coonabarabran () is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2021 census, the town had a population of 2,387, Material was copied from th ...

and

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire Local government in Australia, local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Hi ...

districts in New South Wales and also in and between the Central Coast and

Nowra Nowra () is a city in the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated po ...

districts in New South Wales. * ''Melaleuca linearis'' var. ''pinifolia'' (J.C.Wendl.) Craven has leaves that are less than wide, 34–73 stamens per flower and occurs in the

Gilgandra Gilgandra is a country town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia, and services the surrounding agricultural area where wheat is grown extensively together with other cereal crops, and sheep and beef cattle are raised. The town i ...

, Kandos and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

districts in New South Wales.

Synonymy

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

regards ''Callistemon linearis'' as a synonym of ''M. linearis'', ''C. pinifolius'' as a synonym of ''M. linearis'' var. ''acerosa'' (although this variety, named by Tausch has not been formally described) and ''C. rigidus'' as a synonym of ''M. linearis'' var. ''linearis''. It further considers ''M. linearis'' var. ''pinifolia'' to be a synonym of ''M. linearis'' var. ''acerosa''. However, the National Herbarium of New South Wales retains the names ''Callistemon linearis'', ''Callistemon pinifolius'' and ''Callistemon rigidus''. The

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

considers ''M. linearis'' to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''C. linearis'', ''M. linearis'' var. ''pinifolia'' a synonym of ''C. pinifolius'', and ''C. rigidus'' a synonym of ''C. linearis''. A 2012 paper in the journal '' Muelleria'' suggested that if ''Callistemon'' were to be subsumed into ''Melaleuca'', there would be "no morphological characters to uniquely define it (''Melaluca'')". Indeed, in a 2014 paper in ''

Taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

'', Craven and others proposed transferring '' Beaufortia'', '' Calothamnus'', '' Conothamnus'', '' Eremaea'', '' Lamarchea'', '' Phymatocarpus'' and '' Regelia'' to ''Melaleuca'', a change largely accepted by Plants of the World Online, but not by any Australian authority. (Plants of the World Online considers ''Regelia'' to be a synonym of '' Verschaffeltia''.)

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca linearis'' occurs in and between the south-east corner of Queensland,

on the south coast of New South Wales and inland as far as

. It grows in damp situations in a range of vegetation associations.

Use in horticulture

''Melaleuca linearis'' has long been in cultivation (as ''Callistemon linearis'', ''C. pinifolius'' and ''C. rigidus''). Although not common in gardens, it is a hardy plant, thriving in most soils but preferring full sun. It is more resistant to pests such as

sawfly Sawflies are wasp-like insects that are in the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plant ...

than other melaleucas. It has received the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q50845569, from2=Q5022778 linearis Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1796 Taxa named by Johann Christoph Wendland