Melaleuca gibbosa Jacques Julien Houtou de Labillardière, 1806
Slender Honey-myrtle
MYRTACEAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Ken Harris

(updated 28 December 2009)


Flowering stems
Near Hobart, Tasmania, 14th January 1982

Slender Honey-myrtle is a shrub growing to 3 metres. Leaves are decussate along the slender stems, up to 6mm long by 4 mm wide. They are blunt, dotted with glands and have a recurved tip. The flowers are small bottlebrush flowers, consisting of a spike to 2 cm long containing up to 20 flowers. Flowers are cup-shaped, about 3 mm wide, with inconspicuous petals, dominated by up to 20 stamens, pink to purple in colour. The seed capsules are woody, almost spherical about 4 mm across, densely clustered along the stems and eventually becoming submerged as the stems expand.

Slender Honey-myrtle grows in moist sandy heaths. It is found in south-western Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

The foliage is food for some Caterpillars, including :

Aquita tactalis
NOLINAE, NOCTUIDAE

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