''Melaleuca decora'', commonly known as the white feather honeymyrtle, 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 native to eastern

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 ...

. It is a large shrub to small tree with papery bark, lance-shaped leaves and sweet-smelling, creamy-coloured flowers in summer. It grows in near-coastal forest and swamps in

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

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 ...

Description

''Melaleuca decora'' has brown or whitish papery bark and grows to the height of a small tree, usually to but exceptional specimens may exceed in height. The leaves are arranged alternately, long, wide, flat, narrow elliptic in shape and tapering to a point. The flowers are cream-coloured or white, arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering, sometimes on the sides of the branches. The spikes are up to in diameter, long and have between 3 and 30 groups of flowers, usually in threes. The petals are roughly egg-shaped long and fall off as the flower ages. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flowers with 20 to 40 stamens in each bundle. The main flowering season is from November to January and is followed by fruit that are woody capsules long, well spaced along the stems.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1796 by

Richard Anthony Salisbury Richard Anthony Salisbury (born Richard Anthony Markham; 2 May 1761 – 23 March 1829) was a British botanist. While he carried out valuable work in horticultural and botanical sciences, several bitter disputes caused him to be ostracised by hi ...

, who named it ''Metrosideros decora''. The reason he chose 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 ...

(''decora'') was not explained, but it 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 ...

''decorus'' meaning "becoming", "fitting" or "beautiful". In 1916,

James Britten James Britten (3 May 1846 – 8 October 1924) was an English botanist. Biography Born in Chelsea, London, he moved to High Wycombe in 1865 to begin a medical career. However he became increasingly interested in botany, and began writing papers ...

moved it to the genus ''Melaleuca'' as ''Melaleuca decora''.

Distribution and habitat

''Melaleuca decora'' occurs in

south from the

Burnett River The Burnett River is a river in the Wide Bay–Burnett and Central Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia. Course and features The Burnett River rises in the Burnett Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, close to Mount Gaeta and east ...

district and in

north from the

Shoalhaven River The Shoalhaven River is a perennial stream, perennial river that rises from the Southern Tablelands and flows into an open mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary near Nowra on the South Coast, New Sou ...

growing in sand and heavy soils in open forest and swamps in coastal districts.

Use in horticulture

''Melaleuca decora'' is a hardy plant that can be grown in a range of soil types, but needs plenty of water and will tolerate poorly drained sites. It is a useful screening plant and flowers profusely.

Gallery

Image: Melaleuca decora Field of Mars.jpg, Habit in

East Ryde East Ryde is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the Northern Sydney region and is located 12 kilometers north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde. Ea ...

Image: Melaleuca decora fruit.jpg, Fruit Image: Amyema gaudichaudii on Melaleuca decora.jpg, Mistletoe ('' Amyema gaudichaudii'') on ''M. decora'' File:M._decoratree.jpg, Habit in a suburban street in Sydney File:Melaleuca decora habit.jpg, Habit near

Melita Stadium Melita Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is mainly used for Association football, football and is the home ground for Parramatta FC team and the Parramatta Ladyhawks Women's Super League team. The stadium has a capacity of ...

and Duck River Reserve

References