Melaleuca bracteata

Melaleuca bracteata

Synonyms

 Melaleuca genistifolia

 Melaleuca monticola

Common name

Golden Bottle Brush, River Tea Tree, Black Tea tree, Prickly Leaved Tea Tree

Origin

Australia

Ecology

Altitudinal range in northern Australia from 300-750 m. Usually grows in swampy or soakage situations in areas which are otherwise predominantly open forest but also found on the edge of gallery forest, vine thickets and monsoon forest.

Plant type: evergreen shrub

Hardiness zones: 9-11

Sunlight: hot overhead sun

Soil Moisture: dry for extended periods to constantly moist

Soil: ordinary soil, enriched soil, mildly acidic to mildly alkaline

Tolerances: high wind, second line salt wind, light frost

Description

Shrub or small tree to 15m with hard, fissured bark, fine narrow leaves and white or cream flowers in cylindrical spikes in summer. Widespread, along watercourses or on heavier inland soils in depressions; north from the Macleay River, NSW.

Hardy in light to heavy moist or dry soils. Popular shade or shelter plant even in wet locations.

Leaves alternate, narrow-ovate to ovate (egg-shaped), 10-28 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, 5-11-veined, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous (hairless) or occasionally pubescent; sessile (attached without petiole).

Inflorescences (flowering parts) few- to many-flowered spikes 1.5-3.5 cm long; rachis pubescent (the stem of the spike is hairy).

White flowers solitary or in threes within each bract. Petals nore or less circular, 1.5-2 mm long.

Fruit sub- (or nearly) globose, 2-3 mm in diameter, orifice around 2 mm in diameter, with sepals persistent. A sepal is one of the component parts of the calyx, when this consists of separate (not fused) parts. The calyx is a collective term for the sepals of a flower, i.e. the outermost whorl of flower parts, when this is not the same in appearance as the next such whorl (the corolla).

While this plant is native to the Enoggera catchment this specimen at the junction of Fish and Enoggera Creeks may have self sown from seed from nearby gardens.

Uses

A useful small tree cultivated widely for its compact shape, numerous small, cream coloured 'bottle brush' flowers and its ability to grow in a variety of conditions.

An essential oil obtained from the leaves is germicidal and is used in insecticides to increase their potency.