''Melaleuca flavovirens'', commonly known as green bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 a small area near the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

–

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 ...

border in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. (Some Australian state

herbaria A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

continue to use the name ''Callistemon flavovirens''.) It is a stiff shrub, distinguished by its silvery new growth and spikes of greenish flowers with yellow tips.

Description

''Melaleuca flavovirens'' is a spreading shrub growing to tall with hard, corrugated bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, and a short, blunt tip on the end. They are also distinguished by their broad v-shape, distinct oil glands on both surfaces, a mid-rib and 8 to 16 distinct lateral veins. The flowers are whitish through cream to green and arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering as well as on the sides of the branches. The spikes are up to in diameter with 15 to 40 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. There are 34 to 38

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s in each flower, tipped with yellow. Flowering occurs between May and December and is followed by fruit that are woody capsules, long. Melaleuca flavovirens habit

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described in 1925 by

Edwin Cheel Edwin Cheel (14 February 1872 – 19 September 1951) was an Australian botanist and collector. Before being appointed as a staff member of Centennial Park in 1897 he was a gardener in New South Wales and Queensland. Later he transferred to the R ...

, who gave it the name ''Callistemon rugulosus'' var. ''flavo-virens''. The description was published in ''Illustrations of New South Wales Plants''. In 1925, Cheel raised the variety to species level and gave it the name ''Callistemon flavovirens'', publishing the change in ''

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes ''the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches'' and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) in 1874 and incorporated in 1884. History The Society succ ...

''. In 2006,

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 ...

changed the name to ''Melaleuca flavovirens'', publishing the change in ''

Novon The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million s ...

''. 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 ...

(''flavovirens'') is from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

words ''flavus'' meaning "yellow" and ''virens'' meaning "green", referring to the colour of the stamens. ''Callistemon flavovirens'' is regarded as a synonym of ''Melaleuca flavovirens'' by the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca flavovirens'' occurs in the mountains and tablelands from the

Stanthorpe Stanthorpe is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Stanthorpe had a population of 5,286 people. The area surrounding the town is known as the Granite Belt. Geography Stant ...

and

Wallangarra Wallangarra is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia on the border with New South Wales. It is the third-most southerly town in Queensland, south west of Brisbane. Wal ...

districts in Queensland south to Torrington and the

Guy Fawkes River National Park Guy Fawkes River National Park, a national park comprising , is located on the eastern edge of the New England Tablelands and the western edge of the Dorrigo Plateau, in north eastern New South Wales, Australia. Access to the national park via ...

in northern New South Wales. It grows in scrubland, heath and forest along watercourses and amongst boulders on hilltops.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca flavovirens'', as ''Callistemon flavovirens'', is classified in New South Wales as a " Rare or Threatened Australian Plant".

Use in horticulture

''Melaleuca flavovirens'' is a drought resistant species but will tolerate wet situations and is tolerant of frosts. It can be propagated from seed or from cuttings.

Gallery

Image:Melaleuca flavovirens bark.jpg, ''M. flavovirens'' bark Image:Melaleuca flavovirens fruit.jpg, ''M. flavovirens'' fruit

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20721615 flavovirens Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 2006 Taxa named by Edwin Cheel