Weeping bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis viminalis)
Description
Melaleuca viminalis, commonly known as weeping bottlebrush, or creek bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. (Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name Callistemon viminalis.) It is a multi-trunked, large shrub or tree with hard bark, often pendulous foliage and large numbers of bright red bottlebrush flowers in spring and summer. It is possibly the most commonly cultivated melaleuca in gardens and its cultivars are often grown in many countries. Melaleuca viminalis is a large shrub or small tree growing to 10 m (30 ft) tall with hard, fibrous, furrowed bark, a number of trunks and usually pendulous branches. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are 25–138 mm (1–5 in) long, 3–27 mm (0.1–1 in) wide, more or less flat, very narrow elliptical to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base and the other end tapering to a sharp point. The leaves have a mid-vein, 9-27 lateral veins and large number of conspicuous oil glands. The flowers are bright red and are arranged in spikes on and around the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are 35–50 mm (1–2 in) in diameter and 40–100 mm (2–4 in) long with 15 to 50 individual flowers. The petals are 3.4–5.9 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and fall off as the flower ages and the stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower. The bundles are sometimes obscure but each contains 9 to 14 stamens. Flowering occurs from September to December and often sporadically throughout the year. Flowering is followed by fruit which are woody capsules, 3.8–4.8 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) in diameter.
Taxonomic tree
-
Domain: Eukarya
-
-
Kingdom: Plantae
-
-
Phylum:
-
-
Class: Magnoliopsida
-
-
Order: Myrtales
-
-
Family: Myrtaceae
-
-
Genus: Callistemon
-
-
-
-
-
-
