Melaleuca fulgens

Scarlet honey myrtle
M. fulgens (cultivated) in Kings Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Myrtaceae
Genus:	Melaleuca
Species:	M. fulgens
Binomial name
Melaleuca fulgens R.Br.

Melaleuca fulgens, commonly known as the scarlet honey myrtle, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. It is notable for its showy orange, red or purple flowers, unusual foliage and fruit, and is a popular garden plant. It is a member of Melaleuca, a large and diverse genus whose members range from large trees such as M. quinquenervia, to small shrubs.

Melaleuca fulgens is a woody shrub growing to a height of 0.4–3 m (1–10 ft) with glabrous branchlets. Its leaves are arranged in alternating pairs at right angles to those immediately above and below (decussate) so that the leaves are in four rows along the stems. The leaves are grey-green, 8–35 mm (0.3–1 in) long, 0.7–5.5 mm (0.03–0.2 in) wide, varying in shape depending on subspecies but generally linear to egg-shaped.

The flowers are a shade of red, pink or white and are arranged in spikes on the sides of the branches. The spikes are up to 75 mm (3 in) in diameter and contain 6 to 20 individual flowers arranged in a decussate pattern. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower, each bundle at least 20 mm (0.8 in) long and containing 22 to 80 stamens. The flowers appear from late winter to summer (July to December) and are followed by fruit which are woody capsules 4.2–7.2 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long, shaped like a squashed urn and arranged in alternating pairs along the stems.

Melaleuca fulgens was one of the many species first formally described by the botanist Robert Brown, appearing in Hortus Kewensis in 1812. The specific epithet (fulgens) is derived from a Latin adjective meaning "gleaming" or "shining" and is related to the showy flowers.

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Wikipedia