''Melaleuca brachyandra'', commonly known as prickly bottlebrush or scarlet 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
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 ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
and
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
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 continue to use the name ''Callistemon brachyandrus''.)
It is a shrub or small tree with narrow leaves and showy red and green flowers making it an ideal ornamental plant in temperate areas.
Description
''Melaleuca brachyandra'' is a shrub growing to tall with hard bark and a rigid habit. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, linear in shape, kidney-shaped in cross section and with the end tapering to a sharp point.
The flowers are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are up to in diameter with 7 to 36 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. There are 50 to 84
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, with their "stalks" (the filaments) rich crimson and "tips" (the anthers) green. Flowering occurs from September to January and is followed by fruits that are woody
capsules, long.
Taxonomy and naming
''Melaleuca brachyandra'' was first formally described in 2006 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 ...
''. It had previously been known as ''Callistemon brachyandrus'' since John Lindley
John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist.
Early years
Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...
described it in 1849 in '' Journal of the Horticultural Society of London''. 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 ...
(''brachyandra'') is derived from the ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
words ''brachys'' (βραχύς), meaning "short" and ''anēr'', genitive ''andros'' (ἀνήρ, genitive ἀνδρός), meaning "male",[Backer, C.A. (1936). ''Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten'' (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).] referring to the length of the stamens being shorter than the styles.
''Callistemon brachyandrus'' is regarded as a synonym of ''Melaleuca brachyandra'' 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 ...
.[Cobar
Cobar is a town in Outback New South Wales, Australia, whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Highwa ...]
district.
districts of north-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.
Although it has prickly leaves, the attractive flower spikes of ''M. brachyandra'' make it a suitable ornamental for temperate gardens.
It is usually more resistant to pests than other species of the former ''Callistemon''.
It prefers well-drained soil in a sunny situation.