Melaleuceae

Pink bottlebrush Beaufortia schaueri, photographed by Brian Walters.

Belongs within: Myrtaceae.
Contains: Melaleuca.

The Melaleuceae are a group of trees and shrubs bearing clustered flowers and very woody capsular fruits. Members of the genus Callistemon are commonly known as 'bottlebrushes' in reference to the cylindrical form of the flower spikes.

Characters (from Wilson et al. 2005): Trees or shrubs; leaves mostly spiral. Inflorescence often a spike-like (an aggregation of solitary flowers or triads commonly called "bottlebrushes") or head-like clusters of flowers; stamens often fasciculate, anthers fixed or versatile, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, pores or apical slits. Ovary inferior, 3-locular; ovules anatropous or hemitropous. Fruit a very woody capsule, often with delayed dehiscence; seeds linear.

<==Melaleuceae [Beaufortiinae, Callistemoninae, Calothamnineae, Melaleucinae] WO05
    |  i. s.: Eremaea pauciflora WO05, OS04
    |         Lamarchea WO05
    |         Petraeomyrtus WO05
    |         Phymatocarpus WO05
    |         Regelia ciliata WO05, RL05
    |--Callistemon WO05
    |    |--C. citrinum M08
    |    |--C. lanceolatus C08
    |    |--C. linearis H87
    |    |--C. paludosus R35
    |    |--C. phoeniceus OS04
    |    |--C. pityoides C08
    |    |--C. polandii WO05
    |    |--C. rigidus H87
    |    |--C. rugulosus KIW98
    |    |--C. saligna M08
    |    |    |--C. s. var. saligna B96
    |    |    `--C. s. var. angustifolia B96
    |    `--C. viminalis M65
    `--+--Melaleuca WO05
       |--Beaufortia WO05
       |    |--B. bracteosa OS04
       |    |--B. dampieri KM08
       |    |--B. elegans RL05
       |    |--B. incana OS04
       |    |--B. micrantha OS04
       |    |    |--B. m. var. micrantha OS04
       |    |    `--B. m. var. puberula OS04
       |    |--B. orbifolia WO05
       |    `--B. schaueri G04
       `--Calothamnus WO05
            |--C. gilesii S95
            |--C. lateralis GK00
            |--C. lehmannii GK00
            |--C. planifolius OS04
            |--C. preissii GK00
            |--C. quadrifidus OS04
            |--C. sanguineus RL05
            |--C. schaueri GK00
            |--C. tuberosus CH14
            `--C. validus WO05

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B96] Baker, R. T. 1896. On the botany of Rylstone and the Goulburn River districts. Part I. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 21 (3): 427–466.

[C08] Cambage, R. H. 1908. Notes on the native flora of New South Wales. Part VI. Deepwater to Torrington and Emmaville. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 33 (1): 45–65, pls 1–2.

[CH14] Car, C. A., & M. S. Harvey. 2014. The millipede genus Antichiropus (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae), part 2: species of the Great Western Woodlands region of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 29 (1): 20–77.

[G04] Gibson, N. 2004. 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.

[H87] Haviland, E. 1887. Flowering seasons of Australian plants. No. II. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1103–1104.

[KIW98] Kearns, C. A., D. W. Inouye & N. M. Waser. 1998. Endangered mutualisms: the conservation of plant-pollinator interactions. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 83–112.

[KM08] Keighery, G. J., & W. Muir. 2008. Vegetation and vascular flora of Faure Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 75: 11–19.

[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.

[M08] Mound, L. A. 2008. Identification and host associations of some Thysanoptera Phlaeothripinae described from Australia pre-1930. Zootaxa 1714: 41–60.

[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.

[RL05] Rafferty, C., & B. B. Lamont. 2005. Selective feeding by macropods on vegetation regenerating following fire. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 88 (4): 155–165.

[R35] Rayment, T. 1935. A Cluster of Bees: Sixty essays on the life-histories of Australian bees, with specific descriptions of over 100 new species. Endeavour Press: Sydney.

[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.

[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.

Last updated: 29 January 2022.