Melaleuca sabrina facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Melaleuca sabrina
Melaleuca sabrina leaves and flowers
Scientific classification
Genus:	Melaleuca
Species:	sabrina
Synonyms
Callistemon sabrina (Craven) Udovicic & R.D.Spencer

Melaleuca sabrina is a special plant from the myrtle family, called Myrtaceae. It only grows in a small area near the border between New South Wales and Queensland in Australia. Some people also know it as Callistemon sabrina.

This plant is a shrub with rough, stringy bark. It has beautiful red or pink flowers that look like bottlebrushes. These flowers have yellow tips and bloom in spring and summer. Melaleuca sabrina looks a bit like another plant, Melaleuca paludicola. But you can tell them apart because Melaleuca sabrina has much longer stamens. Stamens are the parts of a flower that hold pollen.

What Does Melaleuca Sabrina Look Like?

Melaleuca sabrina is a shrub that can grow up to about 4 meters (13 feet) tall. It has bark that feels rough and stringy. Its leaves grow one after another along the stem. They are about 10 to 59 millimeters (0.4 to 2.3 inches) long. The leaves are also about 1 to 3.5 millimeters (0.04 to 0.14 inches) wide. They are mostly flat and shaped like a very narrow egg, with the narrow end at the bottom. Each leaf has a main vein in the middle and 11 to 20 faint side veins.

The flowers are red or pink with yellow tips. They grow in spikes that are about 30 to 50 millimeters (1.2 to 2 inches) wide. Each spike has 5 to 25 individual flowers. The petals are about 3.2 to 5.4 millimeters (0.13 to 0.21 inches) long. They fall off as the flower gets older. Each flower has between 49 and 73 stamens. The plant flowers from October to March. After flowering, it produces woody fruits called capsules. These capsules are about 3.5 to 5.8 millimeters (0.14 to 0.23 inches) long.

M. sabrina growing near the Severn River

M. sabrina fruit

How Melaleuca Sabrina Got Its Name

The plant Melaleuca sabrina was first officially described in 2009. This was done by a scientist named Lyndley Craven. The second part of its name, sabrina, comes from an old story. Sabrina is the name of a river nymph, a magical spirit, from Celtic mythology. She was believed to live in the River Severn in the United Kingdom. The very first plant specimen used to describe Melaleuca sabrina was found near the Severn River in Queensland, Australia. This is why it was given that name.

Some plant experts, like those at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, also consider Callistemon sabrina to be the same plant as Melaleuca sabrina.

Where Melaleuca Sabrina Grows

Melaleuca sabrina grows in a specific area of Australia. You can find it between the Stanthorpe district in Queensland and Tenterfield in New South Wales. It likes to grow along the banks of rivers and streams. It also grows among large granite rocks.