Melaleuca pritzelii facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Melaleuca pritzelii |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Melaleuca
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| Species: |
pritzelii
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Melaleuca pritzelii is a special plant that belongs to the myrtle family, called Myrtaceae. It only grows naturally in the south-west part of Western Australia. This means it's an endemic plant, found nowhere else in the world! It was first described in 1923, but it wasn't until 1992 that it was officially recognized as its own unique species. This plant is quite rare, with only a few small groups of them growing in different places.
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What Melaleuca pritzelii Looks Like
Melaleuca pritzelii is a type of shrub that can grow up to about 1.2 m (4 ft) (about 4 feet) tall. It has rough, grey bark. Most of the plant is smooth and doesn't have hairs, but new shoots that are just starting to grow might have some soft, tangled hairs.
Its leaves are usually arranged in a cool way: they grow in pairs, and each pair is at a right angle to the pair above and below it. This creates four neat rows of leaves along the small branches. The leaves are small, about 1.2–4.2 mm (0.05–0.2 in) long and 1.2–3.5 mm (0.05–0.1 in) wide. They are shaped like an egg, curving inwards, and they come to a pointed tip.
Flowers and Fruit
The flowers of Melaleuca pritzelii are cream-colored. They grow in small clusters or "heads" on older parts of the plant, or sometimes at the very ends of branches. Each head can have between 4 and 14 individual flowers and can be up to 15 mm (0.6 in) (about half an inch) wide.
Inside each flower, there are five groups of stamens (the parts that make pollen). Each group has 2 to 4 stamens. This plant usually blooms in early spring. After the flowers, it produces small, cup-shaped fruits. These fruits are woody or papery capsules, about 2.0–2.4 mm (0.08–0.09 in) long and 4 mm (0.2 in) wide, and they grow in clusters.
How it Got its Name
The plant Melaleuca pritzelii was first officially described in 1923. At that time, it was thought to be just a variety of another plant, so it was called Melaleuca densa var. pritzelii by a scientist named Karel Domin.
Later, in 1992, a group of scientists including Frances Quinn and Bryan Barlow studied it more closely. They decided it was unique enough to be its own species. They published their findings in a scientific journal called Nuytsia. They also noted that it's probably not very closely related to Melaleuca densa after all. The second part of its name, pritzelii, was chosen to honor Ernst Georg Pritzel. He was the person who collected the plant sample that Karel Domin first described.
Where Melaleuca pritzelii Lives
Melaleuca pritzelii is found in only a few small areas in Western Australia. You can find it in the districts around Gnowangerup, the Stirling Range, and Bremer Bay.
It likes to grow in areas that can be a bit swampy. It prefers sandy or clayey soils. These regions are part of different natural areas in Australia, including the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, and Mallee.
Protecting Melaleuca pritzelii
The Government of Western Australia's Department of Parks and Wildlife keeps track of rare and important plants. They have classified Melaleuca pritzelii as "Priority Three".
What does "Priority Three" mean? It means that scientists know about only a few places where this plant grows. However, it's not currently in immediate danger of disappearing completely. Still, it's important to protect these special plants so they can continue to thrive!
