''Melaleuca megacephala'' is a plant 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 speci ...

and is native to the south-west of Western Australia. It is distinguished by its large, hemispherical heads of yellow and white flowers on the ends of the branches and the overlapping brown bracts under them.

Description

''Melaleuca megacephala'' is an erect, bushy shrub with rough bark and brittle branches which grows to high and wide. Its leaves are arranged alternately on the stems, oval to elliptic in shape, concave, long, wide and with 3 to 5 longitudinal veins. The flowers are arranged in hemispherical heads, mostly on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. Papery brown, overlapping

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s surround the flower buds and remain under the open flowers. The filaments of the

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 filame ...

s are white but the anthers on their ends are yellow or cream coloured, giving the appearance of pale yellow flowers. The heads contain 4 to 12 groups of flowers in threes and are up to wide. The petals are long and fall off as the flower matures. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower, each bundle usually containing 12 to 16 stamens. Flowering occurs from June to November but mainly in early spring and the fruit which follow are woody, cup shaped capsules long that are clustered along the stem.

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca megacephala'' was first formally described in 1862 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in " Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae". 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 ...

(''megacephala'') is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''μέγας (mégas)'' meaning “large” or "great" and ''κεφαλή (kephalḗ)'' meaning "head", referring to the large heads of flowers of this species.

Distribution and habitat

This melaleuca occurs in the Geraldton and Kalbarri districts in the Geraldton Sandplains and Yalgoo

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 sand on sand plains and rocky hills.

Conservation

This species is classified 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 Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...

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 ...

Uses

Horticulture

Although not common in cultivation, this species has been known in horticulture for a long time. It is hardy in well-drained soil and responds well to pruning to ensure good flower set in the following season.

Essential oils

The leaves of ''M. megacephala'' contain significant quantities of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15370835

megacephala ''Megacephala'' is a small genus of beetles in the family Cicindelidae restricted to Africa; it was formerly a much larger genus, but its constituent species (including all of the New World species) have been subsequently placed in other genera, ...

Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1862 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller