Belongs within: Melaleuceae.
Melaleuca is a genus of over 200 species of trees and shrubs found mostly in Australia. Many species are known as ‘paperbarks’ due to their production of a thick bark that peels away in thin sheets. Other species, such as the black tea tree M. bracteata, have hard, rough bark whereas yet others have fibrous bark. A few species have become notorious as invasives in other parts of the world such as the broad-leaved paperbark M. quinquenervia in Florida. The South Australian swamp paperbark M. halmaturorum is capable of thriving in more saline soils than many other plants and has been used in site rehabilitation. Cajuput M. cajuputi is used commercially as a source for essential oil.
Characters (from Wilson 2011): Leaves opposite, alternate or irregularly arranged; petiolate, sessile or peltately attached. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, spike- or head-like, the terminal bud usually growing on, occasionally aborting. Flowers pentamerous, white, yellowish, pink, red or mauve; sepals small, triangular to semicircular; petals free; stamens numerous, fused into bundles opposite petals; anthers dorsifixed, versatile; ovary half-inferior, trilocular, with several to many erect ovules in each loculus; style filiform, stigma simple or capitate. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, only rarely exserted from the fruiting hypanthium; seeds linear. 2n=22, 24 or 33.
<==Melaleuca L. 1767KC01
|--M. acerosaHR01
|--M. acuminataG04b
|--M. adnataM87
|--M. agathosmoidesG04b
|--M. alsophilaLK14
|--M. argenteaLK14
|--M. bracteataM65
|--M. cajuputiLK14
|--M. cardiophyllaG04b
|--M. cliffortioidesG04b
|--M. conothamnoidesM93
|--M. cordataG04b
|--M. coronicarpaG04b
|--M. corrugata Black ex Eardley 1965E65
|--M. cucullataG04b
|--M. cuticularisSM06
|--M. dealbataLK14
|--M. deanei von Mueller 1887M87
|--M. decora [incl. M. genisitifolia]C74
|--M. densaGK00
|--M. eleuterostachyaMLP09
|--M. ellipticaM87
|--M. erianthaM87
|--M. ericifoliaSN08
|--M. foliolosaM87
|--M. fulgensG04a
|--M. genistifoliaC16
|--M. globiferaFS54
|--M. glomerataMLP09
|--M. halmaturorumG04b
|--M. holosericeaK90
|--M. howeanaP82
|--M. huegeliiH20
|--M. hypericifoliaMB08
|--M. incanaM99
|--M. irbyanaM65
|--M. johnsoniiG04b
|--M. lanceolataB00
|--M. laterifloraG04b
|--M. lateritiaGK00
|--M. laxifloraG04b
|--M. lecananthaOS04
|--M. leiocarpaG04a
|--M. leiopyxisK90
|--M. leptocladaGK00
|--M. leptospermoidesK90
|--M. leucadendraB00
| |--M. l. var. leucadendraC16
| `--M. l. var. cunninghamiC16
|--M. linariifoliaB14
|--M. linophyllaSM82
|--M. minutifoliaLK14
|--M. nematophyllaG04a
|--M. nervosaLK14
|--M. nesophilaWO05
|--M. nodosaM65
|--M. olfieldiiK90
|--M. parvifloraM87
|--M. paucifloraGK00
|--M. pauperifloraG04b
|--M. pentagonaG04b
|--M. phoidophyllaG04b
|--M. preissianaRL06
|--M. pritzeliiGK00
|--M. pubescensFS54
|--M. pungensG04b
|--M. quadrifariaG04b
|--M. quinquenerviaB00
|--M. radulaS95
|--M. rhaphiophyllaSM06
|--M. rigidifoliaG04b
|--M. salignaC16
|--M. sapientesG04b
|--M. scabraK90
|--M. sericeaLK14
|--M. sieberiM65
|--M. spathulataGK00
|--M. squarrosaSN08
|--M. striataCFH05
|--M. styphelioidesB00
|--M. subtrigonaOS04
|--M. symphyocarpaC16
|--M. systenaSM06
|--M. tenuicuspisA78
|--M. teretifoliaSM06
|--M. teuthidoidesG04b
|--M. thymifoliaM87
|--M. thymoidesGK00
|--M. tuberculataOS04
|--M. uncinataOS04
|--M. urceolarisK90
|--M. viminalisLK14
|--M. vimineaSM06
|--M. violaceaGK00
`--M. viridifloraWO05 [=M. leucadendron var. viridifloraC16]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[A78] Ananthakrishnan, T. N. 1978. Thrips galls and gall thrips. Zoological Survey of India, Technical Monograph 1: 1–69, 26 pls.
[B14] Bouchard, P. (ed.) 2014. The Book of Beetles: A lifesize guide to six hundred of nature’s gems. Ivy Press: Lewes (United Kingdom).
[B00] Braby, M. F. 2000. Butterflies of Australia: their identification, biology and distribution vol. 2. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood (Victoria).
[C16] Cambage, R. H. 1916. Notes on the native flora of tropical Queensland. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 49 (3): 389–447, pls 57–61.
[CFH05] Cochrane, J. A., J. A. Friend & S. J. E. Hill. 2005. Endozoochory and the Australian bluebell: comsumption of Billardiera fusiformis (Labill.) Payer (Pittosporaceae) seeds by three mammal species at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 88 (4): 191–196.
[C74] Crowder, J. P. 1974. Exotic Plant Pests of South Florida. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (USA).
[E65] Eardley, C. M. 1965. Diagnoses to new taxa. In: Black, J. M., & E. L. Robertson Flora of South Australia. Part IV. Oleaceae–Compositae pp. 945–946. W. L. Hawes, Government Printer: Adelaide.
[FS54] Fairbridge, R. W., & V. N. Serventy. 1954. Physiography. In: Willis, J. H. (ed.) The Archipelago of the Recherche pp. 9–28. Australian Geographical Society: Melbourne.
[G04a] Gibson, N. 2004a. Flora and vegetation of the Eastern Goldfields Ranges: part 6. Mt Manning Range. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (2): 35–47.
[G04b] Gibson, N. 2004b. Flora and vegetation of the Eastern Goldfields Ranges: part 7. Middle and South Ironcap, Digger Rock and Hatter Hill. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (2): 49–62.
[GK00] Gibson, N., & G. J. Keighery. 2000. Flora and vegetation of the Byenup-Muir reserve system, south-west Western Australia. CALMScience 3 (3): 323–402.
[HR01] Hale, R. J., & D. C. F. Rentz. 2001. The Gryllacrididae: an overview of the world fauna with emphasis on Australian examples. In: Field, L. H. (ed.) The Biology of Wetas, King Crickets and Their Allies pp. 95–110. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).
[H20] Houston, T. F. 2020. Nesting biology of the Australian solitary bee Paracolletes crassipes Smith (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) accords with that of the Diphaglossinae. Records of the Western Australian Museum 35: 53–62.
[K90] Keighery, G. J. 1990. Vegetation and flora of Shark Bay, Western Australia. In: Berry, P. F., S. D. Bradshaw & B. R. Wilson (eds) Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France-Australe Bicentenary Expedition Committee pp. 61–87. Western Australian Museum.
[KC01] Kirk, P. M., P. F. Cannon, J. C. David & J. A. Stalpers. 2001. Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi 9th ed. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).
[LK14] Lyons, M. N., G. J. Keighery, L. A. Gibson & T. Handasyde. 2014. Flora and vegetation communities of selected islands off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81: 205–244.
[MB08] Maiden, J. H., & E. Betche. 1908. Notes from the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. No. 13. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 33: 304–319.
[M99] Matthews, M. 1999. Heliothine Moths of Australia: A guide to bollworms and related noctuid groups. CSIRO Publishing.
[MLP09] McKenzie, N. L., S. van Leeuwen & A. M. Pinder. 2009. Introduction to the Pilbara Biodiversity Survey, 2002–2007. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 78 (1): 3–89.
[M65] Michener, C. D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1–362.
[M93] Mollemans, F. H. 1993. Drummondita wilsonii, Philotheca langei and P. basistyla (Rutaceae), new species from south-west Western Australia. Nuytsia 9: 95–109.
[M87] Mueller, F. von. 1887. Some hitherto undescribed plants of New South Wales. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1105–1110.
[OS04] Obbens, F. J., & L. W. Sage. 2004. Vegetation and flora of a diverse upland remnant of the Western Australian wheatbelt (Nature Reserve A21064). Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (1): 19–28.
[P82] Pickard, J. 1982. Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island. Australian Journal of Ecology 7: 161–170.
[RL06] Rafferty, C., & B. B. Lamont. 2006. Food choice by western grey kangaroos among plants grown at different nutrient levels. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 89 (1): 7–12.
[SN08] Schmidt, E. R., & T. R. New. 2008. The Psocoptera (Insecta) of Tasmania, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 65: 71–152.
[SM06] Semeniuk, C. A., L. A. Milne, P. Ladd & V. Semeniuk. 2006. Pollen in the surface sediments of wetlands in the Becher Point area, southwestern Australia: a baseline for use in interpreting Holocene sequences. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 89 (1): 27–43.
[S95] Smith, G. T. 1995. Species richness, habitat and conservation of scorpions in the Western Australian wheatbelt. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 52: 55–66.
[SM82] Smith, M. J., & G. C. Medlin. 1982. Dasyurids of the northern Flinders Ranges before pastoral development. In: Archer, M. (ed.) Carnivorous Marsupials vol. 2 pp. 563–572. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
[WO05] Wilson, P. G., M. M. O’Brien, M. M. Heslewood & C. J. Quinn. 2005. Relationships within Myrtaceae sensu lato based on a matK phylogeny. Plant Systematics and Evolution 251: 3–19.