''Melaleuca pityoides'', commonly known as alpine bottlebrush, is a plant in the 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 ...

, 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 ...

to the higher areas of south eastern Australia. Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name ''Callistemon pityoides''. It is a shrub, often occurring in dense thickets, with hard bark, silvery-grey new growth, almost cylindrical leaves and spikes of flowers that are usually a shade of yellow.

Description

''Melaleuca pityoides'' is a shrub growing to high and wide, with hard grey bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat to almost cylindrical in cross section, very narrow elliptic to egg-shaped, ending in a sharp point. The leaf veins and oil glands are indistinct. The young leaves and branches are often densely covered with silky hairs. The flowers are golden-yellow to cream, sometimes tinged with pink or green, and are arranged in short spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are in diameter and long with 10 to 15 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages and there are 32-52 stamens in each flower. Flowering occurs from October to February, sometimes in other months and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1883 by Victorian Government Botanist

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

, who gave it the name ''Callistemon pityoides'' in ''Australian Chemist and Druggist'', based on material gathered from the environs of the

Ovens River The Ovens River, a perennial river of the north-east Murray catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Alpine and Hume regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the Ea ...

and "Dumaresque River". He first mentioned ''Melaleuca pithyoides'' without description in 1853 in his ''First General Report of the Government Botanist on the Vegetation of the Colony'' in 1853. Mueller had collected non-flowering plant material from

Mount Buffalo Mount Buffalo is a mountain plateau of the Australian Alps and is within the Mount Buffalo National Park in Victoria, Australia. It is located approximately northeast of Melbourne. It is noted for its dramatic scenery. The summit of the h ...

on an expedition earlier that year. The name was changed to ''Melaleuca pityoides'' in 2006 by

Lyndley Craven Lyndley Alan Craven (3 September 1945 – 11 July 2014) was a botanist who became the Principal Research Scientist of the Australian National Herbarium. Lyndley ("Lyn") Craven worked for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organ ...

in Novon. 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 ...

(''pityoides'') is from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''pitys'' meaning “pine” and ''εἶδος (eîdos)'' meaning "likeness”, referring to the similarity of the leaves of this species with those of some kinds of pine trees.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs from the Border Ranges district in the far south east of

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 ...

, south through the Northern, Central and

Southern Tablelands The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and generally west of the Great Dividing Range. The area is characterised by high, flat country which has generally been extensively cl ...

of New South Wales and the highlands of eastern Victoria. It grows in swampy

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and rocky streams, often forming thickets to the exclusion of other species.

Use in horticulture

''Melaleuca pityoides'' is sometimes cultivated as ''Callistemon pityoides''. It grows well in cold climates, including in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, preferring heavier soils and can tolerate poor drainage.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5022788 pityoides Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 1883 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller