melaleuca Myrtaceae Melaleuca quinquenervia

Leaf:Alternate, simple, evergreen, broadly lanceolate or narrowly elliptical, to 5 inches, parallel veined, yellow-green to gray-green above and below, borne on a short petiole.
Flower:Species is monoecious, white, with numerous long stamens; borne in showy 1 to 3 inch bottlebrush-like spikes at the branch tips; capable of flowering year-round.
Fruit:Seeds are tiny, borne in sessile short cylindrical woody capsules; up to 30 capsules on a spike. Seeds are generally not released at maturity, but are heavily shed in response to a disturbance.
Twig:Slender, red-brown, aging to gray-brown.
Bark:Very distinctive, gray to chalk-white with reddish-brown, layered, and shreddy/peeling; notably corky or spongy and thick.
Form:Generally upright, to 80 feet but usually small trees that often form dense stands.

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