Melaleuca flavovirens
Melaleuca flavovirens, commonly known as green bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area near the New South Wales–Queensland border in Australia. It is a stiff shrub, distinguished by its silvery new growth and spikes of greenish flowers with yellow tips.
Description
Melaleuca flavovirens is a spreading shrub growing to tall with hard, corrugated bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, and a short, blunt tip on the end. They are also distinguished by their broad v-shape, distinct oil glands on both surfaces, a mid-rib and 8 to 16 distinct lateral veins.The flowers are whitish through cream to green and arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering as well as on the sides of the branches. The spikes are up to in diameter with 15 to 40 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. There are 34 to 38 stamens in each flower, tipped with yellow. Flowering occurs between May and December and is followed by fruit that are woody capsules, long.
Taxonomy and naming
The species was first formally described in 1925 by Edwin Cheel, who gave it the name Callistemon rugulosus var. flavo-virens. The description was published in Illustrations of New South Wales Plants. In 1925, Cheel raised the variety to species level and gave it the name Callistemon flavovirens, publishing the change in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of [New South Wales]. In 2006, Lyndley Craven changed the name to Melaleuca flavovirens, publishing the change in Novon. The specific epithet is from the Latin words flavus meaning "yellow" and virens meaning "green", referring to the colour of the stamens.Callistemon flavovirens is regarded as a synonym of Melaleuca flavovirens by Plants of the World Online.