page_title: Melaleuca eleuterostachya
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Melaleuca eleuterostachya / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Melaleuca eleuterostachya 53 km W of Esperance
context_page_description: Melaleuca eleuterostachya is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia and South Australia. It is a shrub or tree with arching branches, narrow leaves and small spikes of cream or white flowers.
context_section_description: Melaleuca eleuterostachya is a shrub or tree with grey papery or fibrous bark, thin arching branches and which grows to a height of about 6 m (20 ft). The leaves are arranged in alternate pairs (decussate), are narrow lance-shaped or narrow oval to linear, about 2.7–14 mm (0.1–0.6 in) long and 0.8–1.8 mm (0.03–0.07 in) wide. They have hooked leaves but the tip is not sharp.
  The flowers are cream or white, arranged in short spikes or heads of flowers containing 8 to 20 groups of flowers in threes, the heads up to 20 mm (0.8 in) in diameter. These flowering spikes are on the sides of the main branches and unlike in most other melaleucas, do not continue growing after flowering. The petals are 1.8–2.4 mm (0.07–0.09 in) long and fall off as the flower opens. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower and each bundle contains 12 to 18 stamens. Flowering occurs throughout the year and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules 2.5–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long on short lateral branches.
caption: M. eleuterostachya bark
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