Root-suckering shrub or small tree to 7 m high; bark papery. Leaves scattered or in whorls of 3, linear, 7–19 mm long, c. 1 mm wide, tip more or less blunt, often recurved, veins obscure, glands sometimes present mostly on lower surface but hardly protruding; petiole to 1 mm long. Inflorescence a short spike, 1–1.7 cm long and wide; axis shortly hairy, soon growing out into a leafy shoot; flowers 1 per bract; stamens 5–7 mm long, 7–12 in a bundle, cream to white, claw to 2 mm long, free part of filaments 3–6 mm long. Capsules 2.5–4 mm wide with an undulate rim produced by persistent remains of sepals. Flowers spring.
GleP, Brid, VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, VAlp. Also NSW, Tas. Grows mostly at low elevations in moist, often seasonally inundated sites such as swamps, riversides and lake margins, often in subsaline sites.
Source:
Spencer, R.D. (1996). Melaleuca. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 1027–1034. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
