Melaleuca wilsonii

Melaleuca wilsonii is a dense shrub growing to 2 m (7 ft) high and often spreading to 3 m (10 ft) wide with rough, flaky or corky bark. The leaves are arranged in alternating pairs (decussate) and are 8–15 mm (0.3–0.6 in) long, 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) wide and taper to a point.[2][3]

Flowers occur on the older wood in clusters up to 10 cm (4 in) long, 25 mm (1 in) in diameter and are pale to dark pink or lilac in colour. The stamens are arranged in bundles of five around each flower with 6 to 15 stamens per bundle. The petals are brown, 2.8–3.3 mm (0.11–0.13 in) and deciduous. Flowers appear from October to December but mainly in the first weeks of November and the fruit which follow are woody capsules 2.5–3.5 mm (0.098–0.14 in) long and scaly with the sepals remaining as teeth on the fruit.[2][3][4][5][6]

Decussate leaf phyllotaxis M. wilsonii (San Diego Botanic Garden)

Melaleuca wilsonii was first formally described in 1861 by Victorian State Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected by Reverend Julian Tenison-Woods in desert country near Tatiara and in the desert around Lake Hindmarsh by John Dallachy.[7][8] The specific epithet (wilsonii) is a reference to a Charles Wilson, a friend of Mueller who apparently had some role in drawing the species to the botanist's attention.[3][6] It is a member of Melaleuca, a large and diverse genus whose members range from large trees such as M. quinquenervia, to small shrubs.[9]

Inflorescence showing deciduous brown petals, small green sepals and stamen bundles.

This melaleuca occurs from the south-east corner of South Australia to western and central Victoria. It grows in seasonally flooded and poorly drained soils in open scrubland, eucalypt forest and mallee heath.[3][5]