''Melaleuca concinna'' is a small shrub in the myrtle family

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 spe ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to the

south-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions— north, east, south, and west—eac ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

. Its species name translates as " neat" or "pretty" and it is distinguished by having many heads of pink flowers in late spring followed by spherical clusters of woody fruits. Melaeluca concinna fruit

Description

''Melaleuca concinna'' is prickly, spreading shrub to about high. The leaves are arranged alternately, long and wide, almost circular in cross section, with a short stalk (less than long) and a sharp pointed end. The flowers are arranged in heads, at or near the ends of the branches which continue to grow after flowering. Each head is up to in diameter and contains between 4 and 9 groups of flowers, each group with 3 individual flowers. The base of the flowers is surrounded by white bracts. The

petal Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...

s are long and fall off as the flower opens. The flowers are surrounded by five bundles of

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s, each bundle containing 3 to 5 pink or purple stamens. The main flowering period is in October and November and is followed by almost spherical clusters of fruit about in diameter.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1852 by the Russian botanist

Nikolai Turczaninow Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow ( ru , Николай Степанович Турчанинов, 1796 in Nikitovka, now in Krasnogvardeysky District, Belgorod Oblast, Russia – 1863 in Kharkov) was a Russian botanist and plant collector wh ...

in ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou'' under the heading ''Myrtaceae Xerocarpicae in Nova Hollandi''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''concinna'') is from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''concinnus'' meaning "neat", "pretty", or "elegant".

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in the south

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...

, Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe districts in the

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is ...

and Mallee

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

growing in sandy loam over clay or laterite in mallee scrub or heath and along railway lines.

Conservation status

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

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also common ...

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and en ...

Use in horticulture

This species is not often cultivated but has been grown successfully in Adelaide.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15371738 concinna Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1852 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow