Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Melaleuca ericifolia

Flowering branches. Photographer Don Wood, Erowal Bay, Jervis Bay, NSW

Flowering branches and nuts. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Stocks Nursery, Harden

Shrub. Photographer Arthur Chapman, near Orbost, Vic

Common name

Swamp paperbark

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Dry forest and heath, along streams, lake margins, and in swamps. Coastal, including the Sydney area away from the coast.

Notes

Shrub or tree to 8 m tall. Bark corky or papery. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, scattered or in whorls of 3, mostly 0.7-1.9 cm long, about 1 mm wide, linear, tips pointed, surfaces hairless. Flower spikes 7-17 mm long, many-flowered, white to cream. Individual flowers with 5 petals each about 1 mm long. Stamens 5–7 mm long. Flowers Spring to Summer.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Melaleuca~ericifolia (accessed 24 January, 2021)