Australian Native Plants

  Melaleuca lanceolata (Dryland Tea-tree)


Melaleuca lanceolata photo
Melaleuca lanceolatas (cultivated, labelled) Maranoa Gardens, Balwyn, Victoria, Australia

Photograph by Melburnian. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)



Growth Characteristics information is sourced from: State Flora Catalog, Government of South Australia Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.



DRYLAND TEA-TREE FACTS

distribution map showing range of Melaleuca lanceolata in Australia

Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License


Common Name
Dryland Tea-tree

Description
The Dryland Tea-tree is a dense shrub or small tree growing to about 8m. The bark is rough and hard. Young branchlets are hairy. The alternate leaves are linear to narrow-elliptic with pointed tips, and grow to 5mm to 15mm long and 1mm to 3mm wide. The plant produced bottlebrush-like spikes of white flowers 2cm to 4cm long, mainly in summer. The individual flowers are grouped in threes. Petals are ovate and about 2mm long. The fruit are woody capsules about 4mm to 5mm in diameter.

Habitat
mallee, open woodland, ridges, coastal cliffs and dunes, on sandy, loam and clay soils

Distribution
New South Wales, Victoria., South Australia, Western Australia.

Growth Characteristics
Height (m): 3 - 8
Spread (m): 3 - 5
Soil Texture: sand, loam, clay, limestone
Soil pH: acid soils, neutral soils, alkaliine soils
Frost Sensitivity: resistant
Minimum Rainfall (mm): 250
Flower Colour: cream
Flower Season: spring, summer

(source: SA State Flora Catalog)

Propagation
seed

Wildlife Interest
attracts nectar eating birds and insect eating birds, attracts butterflies. Birds may nest in foliage.

Classification
Class:Magnoliopsida
Order:Myrtales
Family:Myrtaceae
Genus:Melaleuca
Species:lanceolata
Common Name:Dryland Tea-tree


Relatives in same Genus
  Melaleuca acuminata
  Melaleuca adnata
  Melaleuca alternifolia
  Melaleuca argentea
  Melaleuca armillaris
  Melaleuca aspalathoides
  Melaleuca barlowii
  Melaleuca blaeriifolia
  Melaleuca bracteata
  Melaleuca brevifolia
  Melaleuca bromelioides
  Melaleuca calothamnoides
  Melaleuca calycina
  Melaleuca campanae
  Melaleuca cardiophylla
  Melaleuca carrii
  Melaleuca coccinea
  Melaleuca concreta
  Melaleuca conothamnoides
  Melaleuca cordata
  Melaleuca cucullata
  see A-Z list for more ...