Melaleuca leptospermoides

Melaleuca leptospermoides
M. leptospermoides growing in the Charles Gardner Nature Reserve near Tammin
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Melaleuca
Species: M. leptospermoides
Binomial name
Melaleuca leptospermoides
Schauer

Melaleuca leptospermoides is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub similar to Melaleuca tuberculata except that it lacks the brown bracts at the base of the flowers.

Description

Melaleuca leptospermoides is a shrub growing to a height of 1.6 metres (5 ft). The leaves are arranged alternately, are 4.5–12 millimetres (0.2–0.5 in) long, 1.3–6 millimetres (0.05–0.2 in) wide and linear to narrow oval in shape.

Purple, mauve, magenta or pink flowers appear in heads at or near the ends of the branches. The heads are composed of one to four groups of flowers with three flowers in each group and are up to 22 millimetres (0.9 in) in diameter. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower, each bundle having 8 to 12 stamens. Flowering occurs between September and November and the fruits which follow are woody capsules 4–5 millimetres (0.2–0.2 in) long.[1][2]

M. leptospermoides flowers
M. leptospermoides fruits

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1844 by Johannes Conrad Schauer in Plantae Preissianae.[3] The specific epithet (leptospermoides) is a "reference to a perceived similarity between this species and a species of Leptospermum".[2]

Distribution and habitat

Melaleuca leptospermoides occurs from the Cadoux-Brookton districts eastwards to the Coolgardie-Lake King districts[1] in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Mallee biogeographic regions.[4] It grows in sand, gravel or clay on undulating sandplains and salt lakes.[5]

Conservation

Melaleuca leptospermoides is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.[4]

Uses

Essential oils

The oil from the leaves of this species consists mainly of monoterpenes at the rate of 0.2-0.5% (fresh weight/weight).[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Holliday, Ivan (2004). Melaleucas : a field and garden guide (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Reed New Holland Publishers. p. 298. ISBN 1876334983.
  2. 1 2 3 Brophy, Joseph J.; Craven, Lyndley A.; Doran, John C. (2013). Melaleucas : their botany, essential oils and uses. Canberra: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. p. 223. ISBN 9781922137517.
  3. ↑ "Melaleuca leptospermoides". APNI. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Melaleuca leptospermoides". FloraBase. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia.
  5. ↑ Paczkowska, Grazyna; Chapman, Alex R. (2000). The Western Australian flora : a descriptive catalogue. Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. p. 395. ISBN 0646402439.

External sources

Wikispecies has information related to: Melaleuca leptospermoides
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