Melaleuca quadrifaria
species of plant
Melaleuca quadrifaria, commonly known as limestone honey-myrtle, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is native to the south of Western Australia. It is distinguished by the small size and arrangement of its leaves combined with its small spikes of white or cream flowers.
Description
Melaleuca quadrifaria grows to the size of a large shrub up to 5 m (20 ft) tall usually with dark fibrous bark, sometimes with gey or brown papery bark. Its leaves are small and arranged in alternating pairs at right angles to those above and below (decussate) so that they form four rows along the branches. The leaves are 2.5–6.7 mm (0.1–0.3 in) long, 0.8–1.5 mm (0.03–0.06 in) wide, narrow oval in shape, half-moon shape in cross-section and tapering to a blunt point or rounded end.
The flowers are white or cream and are arranged in small heads or spikes on the sides of the branches. The spikes are up to 18 mm (0.7 in) in diameter and contain 2 to 9 groups of flowers in threes. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower with 9 to 13 stamens in each bundle. The main flowering time is summer and is followed by fruit which are small, roughly spherical, woody capsules, 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.12 in) long, with a star shaped opening, scattered or in small clusters along the stems.
Taxonomy and naming
Melaleuca quadrifaria was first formally described in 1886 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Southern Science Record.
The public source identifies “Melaleuca quadrifaria” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Melaleuca, quadrifaria and species.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15371179. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1886.
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This entry incorporates text from “Melaleuca quadrifaria” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.