Melaleuca nervosa
| Fibrebark | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| M. nervosa habit | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Melaleuca |
| Species: | M. nervosa |
| Binomial name | |
|
Melaleuca nervosa (Lindl.) Cheel |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
|
Melaleuca nervosa, commonly known as fibrebark is a shrub or tree in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. (Some Australian state herbaria use the name Callistemon nervosus.) It is a narrow-leaved, tropical paperbark with yellow-green and red-flowering forms. As with some other melaleucas, this species has many uses to Indigenous Australians.
Melaleuca nervosa grows to 2–15 m (7–50 ft) tall, has erect branches and papery-fibrous bark which may be grey, cream, brown or white. There is variation in the leaf size and shape depending on the subspecies but they are generally 30–115 millimetres (1–5 in) long, 5–40 millimetres (0.2–2 in) wide, leathery, covered with fine or curly, silky hairs when young and have 3-7 longitudinal veins.
The flowers are arranged in 6 to 20 groups of three in long spikes about 100 mm (4 in) long and 50 mm (2 in) diameter. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower and in this species there are 3-7 stamens per bundle. The flowers are white, creamy-green, cream, yellow-green or occasionally red. Flowers appear from April to September and are followed by fruit which are woody, cup-shaped capsules about 2–3 millimetres (0.08–0.1 in) long and wide.
Melaleuca nervosa was first formally described in 1848 by John Lindley and T.L. Mitchell in Journal of an expedition to the interior of tropical Australia as Callistemon nervosum. The type specimen was collected by Thomas Mitchell "at Mitchell's Camp of 16th July, 1846, which is quite close to Mantua Downs on the Claude and Nogoa Rivers, south of Springsure, north Queensland." He described it as "a magnificent new crimson Callistemon, with its young flowers and leaves wrapped in wool". It was subsequently placed in the genus Melaleuca as Melaleuca nervosa by Edwin Cheel in 1944, the description given in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. The specific epithet (nervosa) is from the Latin nervosus, meaning "sinewy" referring to the distinctive leaf veins of this species.
...
Wikipedia