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Melaleuca dissitiflora

Species of plant

Melaleuca dissitiflora, commonly known as creek tea–tree, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is native to Australia. It occurs in the drier parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. It grows in places like sandy creek beds and rocky gorges but it may have potential as a more productive source of "tea tree" oil than the usual Melaleuca alternifolia. It is closely related and very similar to Melaleuca linophylla with its papery bark, narrow leaves and loose spikes of creamy-white flowers but its flowers are larger, the stamens are longer and there are more stamens per bundle than in that species.

Description

Melaleuca dissitiflora is usually a tall, bushy shrub which grows to 2-5 m high, 2-4 m wide and has grey papery bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately, 13-50 mm long, 1-5.5 mm wide, glabrous except when very young, linear to elliptic in shape and tapering to a point.

The flowers are white to cream-coloured and are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are up to 12 mm in diameter, 60 mm long and contain between 10 and 30 individual flowers. The petals are arranged in five bundles around the flower with 15 to 35 stamens per bundle. The flowering season is variable but often occurs in winter. The fruit that follow are woody capsules, 2.2-3.5 mm long arranged in roughly spherical clusters around the stem.

Taxonomy and naming

Melaleuca dissitiflora was first formally described in 1863 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from a specimen collected by the explorer John McDouall Stuart. The specific epithet (dissitiflora) is from the Latin dissitus, meaning "apart" or "remote" and flos meaning "flower", referring to the flowers being in loose clusters in the inflorescence.

Distribution and habitat

Melaleuca dissitiflora is found in the drier parts of inland Australia such as Flinders Ranges in South Australia. It is also found in the Northern Territory and western Queensland and there is a disjunct population in the Rawlinson Range in Western Australia near its border with the Northern Territory. It grows in rocky places, in ephemeral watercourses and alluvium.

Uses

Horticulture

Melaleuca dissitiflora has been cultivated in a few places, including where rainfall is as little as 700 mm a year.

Essential oils

This species' leaves yield significant amounts of essential oils such as 1,8-cineole (Eucalyptol).

References

"''Melaleuca dissitiflora''". Plants of the World Online.
(2013). "Melaleucas : their botany, essential oils and uses". Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
(2004). "Melaleucas: a field and garden guide". Reed New Holland Publishers.
"''Melaleuca dissitiflora''". State Herbarium of South Australia.
(1863). "Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.".
"''Melaleuca dissitiflora''". APNI.
{{FloraBase|name=''Melaleuca dissitiflora''|id = 5906}}
"''Melaleuca dissitiflora''". Alice Springs Town Council.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

medicinal-plants melaleuca trees-of-australia myrtales-of-australia crops-originating-from-australia flora-of-the-northern-territory flora-of-queensland flora-of-south-australia plants-described-in-1863 rosids-of-western-australia taxa-named-by-ferdinand-von-mueller

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