page_title: Melaleuca laxiflora
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Melaleuca laxiflora / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Melaleuca growing 13 km N of Corrigin
context_page_description: Melaleuca laxiflora, commonly known as narrow-leaved paperbark, is a woody, spreading shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is distinguished by its loosely arranged, mostly lateral pink flower spikes and its smooth, fleshy, oil-dotted leaves. It is often cultivated because of its hardiness and attractive flowers.
context_section_description: Melaleuca laxiflora is a rounded, open shrub growing to a height and width of 0.5–3 m (2–10 ft) with rough, fibrous bark. Its leaves are arranged alternately along the branches, glabrous, narrow oval to tear-drop shaped, 4.5–28 mm (0.2–1 in) long, 1.5–4 mm (0.06–0.2 in) wide and have prominent oil glands.
  The flowers are mauve, pink or purple, sometimes white, in heads of 6 to 20 individual flowers along the sides of the branches. The heads are 20–40 mm (0.8–2 in) long and about 20 mm (0.8 in) in diameter. The stamens are arranged in five bundles around the flower, each bundle with 12 to 18 stamens. Flowers appear mostly from October to December and the fruit which follow are in loose clusters, each capsule cylindrical, 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and 3 mm (0.1 in) in diameter, with the sepals remaining as teeth around the edge.
caption: M. laxiflora fruit
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