Phil Bendle Collection:Melaleuca viminalis (Weeping bottlebrush)

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Melaleuca
Species: M. viminalis
Binomial name: Melaleuca viminalis  Melaleuca viminalis was first named in 2009 by Lyndley Craven in Novon when Callistemon viminalis was transferred to the present genus
Synonyms: Metrosideros viminalis, Callistemon viminalis
Common names: Weeping bottlebrush, Creek bottlebrush, Drooping Bottlebrush; Red Bottlebrush

Melaleuca viminalis is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
Melaleuca viminalis is a large shrub or small tree growing to 10 m tall with a number of trunks and usually pendulous branches. The trunks bark is hard, fibrous and furrowed. The dead bark is layered.
Its leaves are arranged alternately and are 25–138 mm long, 3–27 mm wide, more or less flat, very narrow elliptical to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base and the other end tapering to a sharp point. The leaves have a mid-vein, 9-27 lateral veins and there is a large number of conspicuous oil glands that almost touching one another.
The flowers are a bright red and are arranged in spikes on and around the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are 35–50 mm in diameter and about 7-8 cm long, with 15 to 50 individual flowers. The petals are 4–6 mm long and fall off as the flower ages. The stamens (9 to 14) are arranged in five bundles around the flower. The staminal filaments projecting at right angles to the inflorescence so that the whole structure resembles a red bottle-brush. Flowering occurs from September to December and often sporadically throughout the year. 
Flowering is followed by fruit which is a woody capsule, 3.8–4.8 mm long and 5–6 mm in diameter. The capsules contain small seeds about 1-15 mm long.

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The much-branched trunks with furrowed bark.
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Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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