Melaleuca beardii

Melaleuca beardii is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is similar to a number of other Western Australian melaleucas such as M. trichophylla with its purple pom-pom flower heads but unlike others, the tips of its leaves are rounded rather than pointed.

habit near Dudawa in the Shire of Three Springs
fruit

Melaleuca beardii
Foliage of Melaleuca beardii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Melaleuca
Species:
M. beardii
Binomial name
Melaleuca beardii

Description

Melaleuca beardii grows to a height of 2.5 m (8 ft) with stems and leaves that are glabrous except when young. Its leaves are arranged alternately, linear or narrow egg-shaped, 4.8–10.5 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long, 0.6–0.8 mm (0.02–0.03 in) wide with a rounded tip.[1]

The flowers are a shade of pink to purple and arranged in heads on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering, sometimes also in the upper leaf axils. The heads are up to 25 mm (1 in) in diameter and contain between 3 and 6 groups of flowers in threes. The stamens are arranged in bundles of five around the flower, with 8 to 13 stamens in each bundle. The flowering season is from October to December and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long in clusters. The clusters do not form a football shape as in some similar melaleucas.[1][2]

Taxonomy and naming

Melaleuca beardii was first formally described in 1999 by Lyndley Craven and Brendan Lepschi in Australian Systematic Botany from a specimen collected near Carnamah.[3][4] The specific epithet (beardii) is in honour of John Stanley Beard, an Australian ecologist.[1]

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in the Arrino and Gunyidi districts[1] in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions where it grows in sand on sandplains.[5]

Conservation status

Melaleuca beardii is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.[5]

References
  1. 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. 87. ISBN 9781922137517.
  2. Holliday, Ivan (2004). Melaleucas : a field and garden guide (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Reed New Holland Publishers. pp. 296–297. ISBN 1876334983.
  3. Craven, L. A.; Lepschi, B. J. (1999). "Enumeration of the species and infraspecific taxa of Melaleuca (Myrtaceae) occurring in Australia and Tasmania". Australian Systematic Botany. 12 (6): 862. doi:10.1071/SB98019.
  4. "Melaleuca beardii". APNI. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  5. "Melaleuca beardii". FloraBase. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
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