''Melaleuca williamsii'' 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 an area between north-eastern

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 ...

and south eastern

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 ...

continue use the name ''Callistemon pungens''.) It is a distinctive shrub with stiff branches, silvery new growth, prickly leaves and spikes of purple flowers in late spring. It is classified as a vulnerable species under the Australian Government Endangered Species Protection Act.

Description

''Melaleuca williamsii'' is a shrub growing to tall with rigid branches and new growth covered with soft, silky hairs giving a silvery appearance. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, narrow elliptic to narrow egg-shaped and flat to half-moon shaped in cross section. They have a sharp tip long, a mid vein, indistinct lateral veins and oil glands visible on both surfaces. The flowers are deep red, white, or a shade of pink to purple. They are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are up to in diameter and long with 10 to 65 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages and there are 25 to 66 stamens per flower. Flowering occurs from October to December and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca williamsii'' was first named 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 when ''Callistemon pungens'' was transferred to the present

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

. It had previously been known as ''Callistemon pungens'', first formally described by Roger Spencer and Peter Lumley in 1990 in Muelleria, based on plant material collected from near Hillgrove. 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 ...

(''williamsii'') honours John Beaumont Williams, a botanist who was expert in the flora of the

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

region of New South Wales. There are three subspecies: *''Melaleuca williamsii'' subsp. ''fletcheri'' which has stamens up to long, flower spikes wide, pink or mauve stamens and occurs in 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 ...

district in Queensland; *''Melaleuca williamsii'' subsp. ''synoriensis'' which has stamens up to long, flower spikes wide and occurs in the

Gibraltar Range The Gibraltar Range is a mountain range in the Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The range extends off the Great Dividing Range at Bald Nob about east northeast of and trends generally east northeast and north northea ...

and Point Lookout districts in New South Wales; *''Melaleuca williamsii'' subsp. ''williamsii'' which has stamens up to long, flower spikes wide, red, crimson or purple stamens and occurs in the Northern Tablelands region of

. ''Callistemon pungens'' is regarded as a synonym of ''Melaleuca williamsii'' 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

This melaleuca occurs in the higher altitude regions of north eastern New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. It grows in

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava (or shallow intrus ...

rock crevices in forest and heath and on sandy or shallow rocky soil.

Conservation

''Melaleuca williamsii'' (as ''Callistemon pungens'') has been classified as "vulnerable" by the Scientific Committee of the NSW Government Department of Environment and Heritage and by the Australian Government Department of the Environment.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5022789 williamsii Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Myrtales of Australia Vulnerable flora of Australia Plants described in 1990 Taxa named by Lyndley Craven