''Melaleuca glauca'', commonly known as Albany 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 the south-west of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. (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 glaucus''.

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 ...

claims that there is no

type material In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

for ''Callistemon speciosus'' and includes it here as a synonym.) It is a tall shrub with

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

leaves and spikes of red flowers in spring.

Description

''Melaleuca glauca'' is a shrub growing to tall with hard, fibrous bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat, mostly narrow egg-shaped with a mid-vein and 11 to 20 branching veins. The flowers are bright red and arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are up to in diameter with 20 to 120 or more individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower and there are between 6 and 15 stamens per bundle. Flowering occurs from October to December and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long.

Taxonomy and naming

The Albany bottlebrush was first formally described in 1830 by the English botanist Robert Sweet, who gave it the name ''Callistemon glaucus'' and published the description in his book ''Hortus Britannicus''. In 2013,

changed the name to ''Melaleuca glauca'' and published the name change in ''Melaleucas : their botany, essential oils and uses''. In 1815

Aimé Bonpland Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (; 22 August 1773 – 11 May 1858) was a French List of explorers, explorer and botany, botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America from 1799 to 1804. He co-authored volumes of the scie ...

described ''Metrosideros glauca'' but the name was not a validly published name (a nom. illeg.), having already been used by Georges de Courset in 1811. ''Callistemon glaucus'' is regarded as a synonym of ''Melaleuca glauca'' 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 ...

. 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 ...

(''glauca'') 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 ...

''glaucus'' meaning "

", referring to the leaves seen by Bonpland.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca glauca'' occurs in the south and south-western coastal districts of Western Australia between

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and Albany in the

Jarrah Forest Jarrah Forest, also known as the Southwest Australia woodlands, is an interim Australian bioregion and ecoregion located in the south west of Western Australia.

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

and

Warren Warren most commonly refers to: * Warren (burrow), a network dug by rabbits * Warren (name), a given name and a surname, including lists of persons so named Warren may also refer to: Places Australia * Warren (biogeographic region) * War ...

biogeographic regions, where it grows in swampy ground in sandy or clayey soils.

Conservation status

''Melaleuca glauca'' is listed as "not threatened" by the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Use in horticulture

''Melaleuca glauca'' is widely grown as an ornamental (as ''Callistemon glaucus'') in temperate parts of Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15370315, from2=Q954151 glauca Plants described in 1815 Endemic flora of Western Australia