Melaleuca
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Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |
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Melaleuca (Greek, melas, black, and leukos, white; from the black trunk and white branches of one of the species). Myrtaceae. Shrubs and trees, often with showy bloom, of high ornamental value for warm temperate regions; especially useful where drought-resistant shrubs are needed. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, entire, lanceolate or linear, flat or subterete, with 1-3 or many nerves: fls. in heads or spikes, rarely scattered, each sessile in the axil of a floral If., their parts in 5's; calyx-tube subglobose; lobes imbricate or open; petals spreading, deciduous; stamens indefinite in number, more or less united at their bases into 5 bundles opposite the petals; anthers versatile, the cells parallel and bursting longitudinally; ovary inferior or half-inferior, inclosed in the calyx-tube, usually with many ovules in each cell; maturing into a persistent caps. Related to Callistemon but distinguished by the united filaments: shares with that genus the name of bottle-brush. — About 100 species of Australian shrubs and trees, some inhabiting salty ground and swamps, others occupying semi-arid slopes of the interior. Grown as specimen and lawn plants, the larger species also for street trees in Calif. and Fla.: M. Leucadendron and M. ericifolia are recommended for fixing muddy shores and for planting in alkaline soils. The timber is close-grained, hard, and durable. Sixteen species are described and figured in Univ. Calif. Pub. Bot. 4:27-34. For cult. see Callistemon. M.fulgens, R. Br. Stands next to M. lateritia in botanical characters but lvs. mostly opposite: fls. dark red: stamens 1 in. long, the ribbon-like claw splitting into numerous filaments. B.R. 103. R.H. 1895:232.—M. genistifolia. Smith. Near M.lateritia: lvs. alternate, narrow-lanceolate, rigid, the upper finely striate: stamens about ¼ in. long.—M. micromeria, Schau. Stands next to M. incana: lvs. minute, scale-like, densely clothing the st. Once grown at Santa Barbara.—-M. tenella, Benth. Near M. nodosa: lvs. scattered or in 3s, linear, ¼ in. long: stamens about 2 lines long.
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Cultivation
Propagation
Pests and diseases
Varieties
Gallery
References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Melaleuca. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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