Pink honey-myrtle (Melaleuca diosmatifolia)
Description
Melaleuca diosmatifolia, commonly known as rosy paperbark and pink honey-myrtle is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is native to Queensland and New South Wales in Australia. It was formerly known as Melaleuca erubescens but is not closely related to Melaleuca diosmifolia although the species name has the same meaning. It has pointed, non-prickly leaves and cylindrical spikes of pink or purple flowers. Melaleuca diosmatifolia is a shrub with hard, rough grey bark growing to a height of about 1.5 m (5 ft). Its leaves are arranged alternately on the stem, each leaf 3.5–14.5 mm (0.1–0.6 in) long, 0.4–0.9 mm (0.02–0.04 in) wide, almost circular in cross-section and ending with a point. They also have a few distinct oil glands The pinkish-purple to deep mauve flowers are arranged on a spike up to 40 mm (2 in) long and 20 mm (0.8 in) diameter, usually at the end of branches which continue to grow after the flowering period. Each spike contains between 15 and 50 separate flowers, each flower with five (rarely six) bundles of stamens, each bundle with 15 to 26 stamens. Flowering mainly occurs from November to December but also through to May and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules about 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) long.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Myrtales
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Family: Myrtaceae
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Genus: Melaleuca
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