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- ›flowering plants
- ›Dicots
- ›myrtles, evening primroses, and allies
- ›myrtle family
- ›Myrtoideae
- ›Melaleuceae
bottlebrushes
Melaleuca
Melaleuca () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of Leptospermum). They range in size from small shrubs that rarely grow to more than 1 m (3 ft 3 in) high, to trees up to 35 m (115 ft). Their flowers generally occur in groups, forming a "head" or "spike" resembling a brush used for cleaning bottles, containing up to 80 individual flowers.
Melaleucas are an important food source for nectarivorous insects, birds, and mammals. Many are popular garden plants, either for their attractive flowers or as dense screens and a few have economic value for producing fencing and oils such as "tea tree" oil. Most melaleucas are endemic to Australia, with a few also occurring in Malesia. Seven are endemic to New Caledonia, and one is found only on Australia's Lord Howe Island.
60 branches of this genus, most-observed first
crimson bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca citrina
weeping bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca viminalis
Melaleuca leucadendra
complexMelaleuca leucadendra
Showy Honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca nesophila
Moonah
speciesMelaleuca lanceolata
Bracelet Honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca armillaris
Swamp Paperbark
speciesMelaleuca ericifolia
scented paperbark
speciesMelaleuca squarrosa
black tea-tree
speciesMelaleuca bracteata
Snow-in-Summer
speciesMelaleuca linariifolia
prickly-leaved paperbark
speciesMelaleuca nodosa
Prickly-leaved Paperbark
speciesMelaleuca styphelioides
Narrow-leaved Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca linearis
Willow bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca salicina
One-sided Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca quadrifida
Narrow-leaved paperbark
speciesMelaleuca alternifolia
broombush
speciesMelaleuca uncinata
swamp honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca squamea
thyme honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca thymifolia
river bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca paludicola
Totem-poles
speciesMelaleuca decussata
Hillock bush
speciesMelaleuca hypericifolia
Lemon Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca pallida
Wallum Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca pachyphylla
Mallee honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca brevifolia
Scarlet Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca rugulosa
Swamp Paperbark
speciesMelaleuca rhaphiophylla
Silky-leaved Blood Flower
speciesMelaleuca eriocarpa
slender honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca gibbosa
Graceful Honeymyrtle
speciesMelaleuca radula
weeping paperbark
speciesMelaleuca irbyana
Kangaroo Honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca halmaturorum
sieber’s paperbark
speciesMelaleuca sieberi
Sand Wattle Myrtle
speciesMelaleuca thymoides
coastal honeymyrtle
speciesMelaleuca systena
Chenille Honeymyrtle
speciesMelaleuca huegelii
Swamp Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca glauca
Melaleuca pilosa
speciesMelaleuca pilosa
Gravel Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca transversa
violet honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca wilsonii
mallee honeymyrtle
speciesMelaleuca acuminata
Modong
speciesMelaleuca preissiana
Mouse ears
speciesMelaleuca rupestris
Alpine Bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca pityoides
Saltwater Paperbark
speciesMelaleuca cuticularis
Melaleuca sparsa
speciesMelaleuca sparsa
Barrens Regelia
speciesMelaleuca velutina
Robin Redbreast Bush
speciesMelaleuca lateritia
lesser bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca phoenicea
Melaleuca fulgens
speciesMelaleuca fulgens
Green Honey Myrtle
speciesMelaleuca diosmifolia
dark beaufortia
speciesMelaleuca anisandra
pink bottlebrush
speciesMelaleuca jonesii
Flaxleaf Paperbark
speciesMelaleuca trichostachya
prickly-leaved paperbark
speciesMelaleuca decora
Melaleuca crossota
speciesMelaleuca crossota
Rough-barked Honey-myrtle
speciesMelaleuca parvistaminea
slender net-bush
speciesMelaleuca gracilis
Kalbarri Beaufortia
speciesMelaleuca aestiva
Melaleuca suberosa
speciesMelaleuca suberosa
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Melaleuca in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 72232.