Dryland Tea-tree
Buds Opening, showing 5 petals
Dryland Tea-tree
Bunch of Flowers
| Dryland Tea-tree Buds Opening, showing 5 petals | | Dryland Tea-tree Bunch of Flowers | | ||
 | Class: | Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) | |||
| Order: | Myrtles (Myrtales) | ||||
| Family: | Myrtle (Myrtaceae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Dryland Tea-tree (Melaleuca lanceolata) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍Flower Cluster🔎 | ||||
| Other names: | Sir Lancelot, Black Paperbark, Black Tea-tree, Moonah, Rottnest Island Teatree or Western Tea-tree | ||||
Thank you Ralph Foster & Alan Dandie (Alan_Dandie) for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere If you live on the coast you'd have no problem understanding this species is a tree. But if you live in the semi-arid regions of Australia, you may well question this, as this species is generally stunted and most specimens are bushes. It is a characteristic of this species to be very variable in it's habit, depending on location (particularly based on water supply). A very common, small, round, woody It has very brittle thin branches that snap easily, with crusty brown bark. The young growth is deceptively soft, but quickly stiffens up and becomes almost prickly, certainly scratchy. Flowers form white bottle-brushes. Being an arid environment, our specimens are quite stunted to those seen on the coast. The flowers show the same style as the related Eucalypts, with the stamen being the dominant part of the flower. We were keen to see how the pods formed, so photographed this series showing the flower receptacle (base of flower) turning into the seed pod. Similar Species: Mallee Honey-myrtle (Melaleuca acuminata ssp acuminata) | |||||
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