Melaleuca salicina

Melaleuca salicina, commonly known as willow bottlebrush,[2] is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name Callistemon salignus, a name that is accepted by the Australian Plant Census. It is a shrub or small tree with soft foliage, pink new growth, white papery bark and spikes of usually white or creamy bottlebrush flowers in spring.

Willow bottlebrush
M. salicina flowers in Nana Glen
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Melaleuca
Species:
M. salicina
Binomial name
Melaleuca salicina
Synonyms[1]
  • Metrosideros saligna Sm.

Description

Melaleuca salicina is a shrub or small tree growing to 15 m (50 ft) high with soft, pink new growth and white or grey papery bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are 38–144 mm (1–6 in) long, 5–16 mm (0.2–0.6 in) wide, more or less flat, narrow elliptic in shape and tapering towards both ends. There is a mid-vein, marginal veins and 9-29 distinct lateral veins.[2][3][4]

The flowers are white or creamy-white and are arranged in spikes at the end of, or around the branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are 20–35 mm (0.8–1 in) in diameter and 50–80 mm (2–3 in) long with 10 to 40 individual flowers. The petals are 2.6–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and fall off as the flower ages and there are 48-65 stamens in each flower. Flowering occurs from September to November and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, 3.8–4.4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) in diameter.[2][3][4]

M. salicina growing in Coffs Harbour

Taxonomy and naming

This bottlebrush species was first formally described in 1797 by James Edward Smith who gave it the name Metrosideros saligna in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.[5][6] Then, in 1826, Robert Sweet transferred to the genus Callistemon in his Hortus Britannicus.[7][8] In 2006, Lyndley Craven transferred the species to Melaleuca as Melaleuca salicina,[9] a name that is listed as a synonym of C. salignus by the Australian Plant Census.[10] The specific epithet (salicina) refers to an apparent similarity between the leaves of this species and those of a species of willow in the genus Salix.[3][11]

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in New South Wales from the border with Victoria along the coast and ranges to the Biloela and Bundaberg districts in Queensland. It grows along watercourses and coastal waterways and on river flats .[3][2]

Use in horticulture

Melaleuca salicina has been known in gardens over many years, usually as Callistemon salignus. Under that synonym it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[12] It can be used for providing shelter and screening and is well-suited as a street tree, or for planting in parks and gardens. Additionally, flowers will attract birds to a garden.[13] The species is suited to a wide range of soil types, and can tolerate both wet and dry conditions and near-coastal exposure but it is not frost tolerant.[4][14]

Pink and red forms are seen in cultivation.[13]

References
  1. "Melaleuca salicina". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. "Callistemon salignus (Sm.) Colvill ex Sweet". Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney: Plantnet. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  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. 312. ISBN 9781922137517.
  4. "Callistemon salignus". Australian Native Plants Society Australia. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  5. "Metrosideros saligna". APNI. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  6. Smith, James Edward (1797). "Botanical Characters of Some Plants of the Natural Order of Myrti". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 3: 272–273. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  7. "Callistemon salignus". APNI. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  8. Sweet, Robert (1826). Hortus Britannicus. London: James Ridgway. p. 155. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  9. "Melaleuca salicina". APNI. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  10. "Callistemon salignus". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  11. Craven, Lyn A. (2006). "New combinations in Melaleuca". Novon. 16 (4): 473. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  12. "AGM Plants March 2020 © RHS – ORNAMENTAL" (PDF). rhs.org.uk. The Royal Horticultural Society. March 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  13. Greig, D. (1987). The Australian Gardener's Wildflower Catalogue. Australia: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 978-0207154607.
  14. "Bottlebrush - Genus Callistemon". Australian National Botanic Garden. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
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