page_title: Melaleuca dempta
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Melaleuca dempta / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Melaleuca at the type location on Scaddan Road
context_page_description: Melaleuca dempta is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub resembling Melaleuca calycina with its heads of white flowers and egg-shaped to heart-shaped leaves. It was formerly considered a subspecies of Melaleuca calycina subsp. dempta but it lacks the star-like fruits of that species and its leaves have a blunt rather than a pointed tip.
context_section_description: Melaleuca dempta is a shrub often growing to about 2.2 m (7 ft) high with the branches glabrous except when very young. Its leaves are arranged in alternating pairs at right angles to the leaves above and below so that the leaves are in four rows along the stems. The leaves are 4.2–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long, 2.5–6.2 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide, broadly elliptic, egg-shaped or heart-shaped with the end tapering to a rounded point.
  The flowers are white and arranged in heads on the ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. The heads are up to 18 mm (0.7 in) in diameter with up to 4 individual flowers. The petals are 2.6–2.9 mm (0.10–0.11 in) long and fall off as the flower ages. There are five bundles of stamens around the flower, each with 22 to 29 stamens. Flowering occurs mainly in September but may continue to February and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules 4.6–6.2 mm (0.18–0.24 in) long with five blunt teeth persisting around the edge. (These teeth are long in Melaleuca calycina giving its fruit a star shape when viewed end-on.)
caption: M. dempta at the type location near Scaddan
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-TZ25", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.0", "Image DateTime": "2015:10:03 11:34:41", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "716", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11764", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9050", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:10:03 11:34:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:10:03 11:34:41", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "441/128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "43/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10910", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}