''Melaleuca subulata'' 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 south 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 ...

. (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 to use the name '' Callistemon subulatus''). It is a small, spreading shrub with hard bark, dense foliage, cylindrical leaves and spikes of dark crimson flowers in summer.

Description

''Melaleuca subulata'' is a shrub growing to high with hard, fibrous bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, cylindrical or shaped like a

bradawl A bradawl is a woodworking hand tool with a blade similar to that of a straight screwdriver and a handle typically made from wood or plastic. An wiktionary:awl, awl is any kind of small pointed tool. Purpose A bradawl is used to make indentations ...

. The flowers are a deep crimson colour and are arranged in spikes at the end of, or around the branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are in diameter and long with 20 to 80 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages and there are 16-27 stamens in each flower. Flowering occurs from November to May and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, long and in diameter. Melaleuca subulata habit

Taxonomy and naming

''Melaleuca subulata'' was first named 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 ...

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 ...

when ''Callistemon subulatus'' 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 ...

. ''Callistemon subulatus'' was first formally described by botanist

Edwin Cheel Edwin Cheel (14 February 1872 – 19 September 1951) was an Australian botanist and collector. Before being appointed as a staff member of Centennial Park in 1897 he was a gardener in New South Wales and Queensland. Later he transferred to the R ...

in 1925 in '' Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales Series''. 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 ...

(''subulata'') refers to the

subulate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets) ...

shape of the leaves. ''Callistemon subulatus'' is regarded as a synonym of ''Melaleuca subulata'' 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 and between the Heathcote and

Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands (New South Wales), Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is si ...

districts 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

East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia covering (14%) of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: Ea ...

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 ...

. It grows in creek beds and on the banks of streams in forests.

Use in horticulture

''Melaleuca subulata'' is commonly cultivated because of it abundant, attractive flowers. It is hardy but benefits from the application of low-phosphorus fertiliser.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5022792 subulata Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 1925 Taxa named by Edwin Cheel