''Melaleuca montis-zamia'' 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

Springsure Springsure is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Springsure had a population of 950 people. Geography Springsure is situated by road ...

district in

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 ...

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 ...

use the name ''Callistemon montis-zamiae''.) It is a shrub with red bottlebrush flowers.

Description

''Melaleuca montis-zamia'' is a shrub growing to tall. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, flat, narrow elliptic to narrow egg-shaped with a mid-vein and 18 to 27 lateral veins. The flowers are a shade of red with the

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 tipped with yellow. They are arranged in spikes on the ends of the branches which continue to grow after flowering and also on the sides of the branches. The spikes are in diameter with 10 to 40 individual flowers. The petals are long, hairy on the outer surface and fall off as the flower ages. There are 40 to 58 stamens in each flower. Flowering occurs in August and September and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca montis-zamiae'' was first formally described in 2009 by

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 ...

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 ...

'', but the spelling was in error, later corrected to ''M. montis-zamia''. 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 ...

(''montis-zamia'') 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 ...

word ''mons'' meaning "a mountain" and Zamia, in reference to the habitat of this species at Mt. Zamia in the

Minerva Hills National Park Minerva Hills is a national park in Central Queensland, Australia, 626 km northwest of Brisbane. Lookouts within the national park overlook the town of Springsure. The park features a rugged landscape with volcanic peaks, sheltered gorges, ...

, Queensland. ''Callistemon montis-zamiae'' is regarded as a synonym of ''Melaleuca montis-zamia'' 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 ...

. Craven noted that the spelling ''Melaleuca montis-zamiae'' in the Novon article is an error which was not detected at the proof stage.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca montis-zamia'' occurs in the Springsure district. It grows in scrub near watercourses.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17596319 montis-zamia Flora of Queensland Plants described in 2009 Taxa named by Lyndley Craven