Family: Myrtaceae
Plant: A tall dense shrub or small tree up to 5m high with dark grey corky bark.
Flowers: Fluffy creamy-yellow 3-7cm long with numerous stamens. The flowers are borne in dense cylindrical spikes low on the branchlets.
Flowering: September-November.
Fruit: Cylindrical capsule, 3-5mm diameter, crowded in clusters surrounding stems.
Leaves: Soft dark-green, linear up to 2.5cm long and 1mm wide with a down-curved tip and oil dots (obscure). They are crowded and alternate.
Habitat: In coastal scrub on sandy soil in damp places in heathland and on exposed sites on headlands where windswept stunted bushes may be found.
Features: Fluffy creamy-yellow spike of flowers. Woody capsules in clusters on stems. Soft linear leaves.
Name:
Melaleuca From Greek melas = black and leucos = white (referring to its black wood and white branches)
armillaris From the Latin = circled with bracelet or collar (referring to its leaves)
Type |
Shrub, Tree |
|
Flowers |
Form |
Cylindrical, Cluster |
|
Colour(s) |
Cream, Yellow |
|
Petal/Sepal No. |
- |
|
Flowering Month |
9, 10, 11 |
Fruit |
Type |
Capsule |
|
Colour |
Brown |
|
Other Features |
Woody, Hard |
Leaves |
Arrangement |
Alternate, Crowded |
|
Type |
Simple |
|
Shape |
Linear, Needle-like |
|
Length |
Short |
|
Margins |
Entire |
|
Attachment |
Unstalked |
|
Other Features |
Soft, Aromatic, Oil |
|
|
dots/Glands |
Bark |
Scaly/Corky |
|
Habitat |
Heathland, Beach strand |