Melaleuca foliolosa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Melaleuca foliolosa |
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| M. foliolosa at Keatings Lagoon, Cooktown, Queensland | |
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Melaleuca
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| Species: |
foliolosa
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Melaleuca foliolosa is a type of plant that belongs to the myrtle family, called Myrtaceae. You can only find this plant in northern Queensland, Australia. It's special because its leaves are very tiny and lie flat against the stem, almost covering each other.
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What Melaleuca foliolosa Looks Like
Melaleuca foliolosa is a tree that can grow up to 10 m (30 ft) (about 33 feet) tall. It has bark that looks like paper and is usually white or grey. The top part of the tree, called the crown, is very bushy.
Its leaves are arranged in a cool way: they grow in opposite pairs, but each pair is turned at a right angle from the pair below it. This is called decussate arrangement. The leaves are small, only about 2.0–3.2 mm (0.08–0.1 in) long and 0.8–1.8 mm (0.03–0.07 in) wide. They are shaped a bit like a triangle and are pressed close to the stem, almost overlapping each other.
The flowers are a creamy or greenish-white color. They grow in short spikes or almost round clusters near the leaves. Each cluster has about 2 to 8 flowers and is up to 15 mm (0.59 in) (about half an inch) across. The small petals, about 1.8–2.0 mm (0.07–0.08 in) long, fall off as the flower opens. Inside the flower, there are five groups of stamens (the parts that make pollen), with each group having 20 to 35 stamens.
You can see these flowers from April to October. After the flowers, the tree grows small, woody fruits called capsules. These capsules are about 2.5–3.5 mm (0.098–0.14 in) long.
How Melaleuca foliolosa Got Its Name
The scientific name Melaleuca foliolosa was first officially written down in 1866 by a botanist named George Bentham. He described it in his book Flora Australiensis. The plant he studied was collected by another botanist, Allan Cunningham, at a place called Cape Flinders.
The second part of the name, foliolosa, comes from a Latin word, folium, which means "leaf." So, foliolosa means "having many small leaves," which perfectly describes this plant!
Where Melaleuca foliolosa Lives
This type of melaleuca tree is found all over the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. It likes to grow in areas with woodlands and savannas, often in sandy or clay soils. You can also find it near coastal salt pans, which are flat areas of land where salt collects from evaporated seawater. Near the Annan River, it forms a low shrubland (an area with many small shrubs) along the edges of salty, flat lands.
The Role of Melaleuca foliolosa in Nature
Melaleuca foliolosa is an important plant in its environment. It acts as a "host" for two types of mistletoe plants: Amyema herbertiana and Notothixos incanus. This means the mistletoe grows on and gets nutrients from the melaleuca tree.
This tree is also a very important part of the home for the endangered Golden-shouldered parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius). These parrots rely on the environment where Melaleuca foliolosa grows to survive.
Images for kids
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Habit at Keatings Lagoon, Cooktown, Queensland
