Melaleuca

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. 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. adnataG04b
    |--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. eleuterostachyaEF04
    |--M. ellipticaM87
    |--M. erianthaM87
    |--M. ericifoliaSN08
    |--M. foliolosaM87
    |--M. fulgensG04a
    |--M. genistifoliaC16
    |--M. globiferaFS54
    |--M. glomerataMLP09
    |--M. halmaturorumG04b
    |--M. holosericeaK90
    |--M. howeanaP82
    |--M. hugeliiM99
    |--M. hypericifoliaMB08
    |--M. incanaM99
    |--M. irbyanaM65
    |--M. johnsoniiG04b
    |--M. lanceolataG04b
    |--M. laterifloraG04b
    |--M. lateritiaGK00
    |--M. laxifloraG04b
    |--M. lecananthaOS04
    |--M. leiocarpaG04a
    |--M. leiopyxisK90
    |--M. leptocladaGK00
    |--M. leptospermoidesK90
    |--M. leucadendraLK14
    |    |--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. quinquenerviaC74
    |--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. thymifoliaC08
    |--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

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[C74] Crowder, J. P. 1974. Exotic Plant Pests of South Florida. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (USA).

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[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.

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[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.