Melaleuca quinquenervia

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Family Myrtaceae

Taxonomy: Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T.Blake

Synonyms: 16 (APC 2026-07-30)

Melaleuca leucadendra var. albida Cheel (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca leucadendra var. angustifolia L.f. (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca leucadendra var. coriacea (Poir.) Cheel (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca leucadendra var. rubriflora (Brongn. & Gris) Guillaumin (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca leucadendron var. albida Cheel (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca leucadendron var. angustifolia L.f. (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca leucadendron var. coriacea Cheel (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca leucadendron var. rubriflora Guillaumin (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca maideni R.T.Baker (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca maidenii R.T.Baker (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca rubriflora Vieill. ex Brongn. & Gris (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca smithii R.T.Baker (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca viridiflora var. angustifolia (L.f.) Byrnes (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca viridiflora var. rubriflora Vieill. ex Brongn. & Gris (taxonomic synonym)
Metrosideros coriacea Poir. (taxonomic synonym)
Metrosideros quinquenervia Cav. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), Qld, NSW

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: ANBG_2019 (1), Everingham_2020 (348), Hughes_1992 (3), Ilic_2000 (2), Kew_2019_1 (4), Kew_2019_3 (2), Kooyman_2011 (13), Lawson_2015 (2), NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (22), NSWFRD_2014 (11), Ooi_2007 (13), Pickup_2021 (5), Schmidt_1997 (1), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Stewart_1995 (23), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (10). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 60 traits from 473 records in 20 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response

resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (1); partial_resprouting (1); resprouts (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Pickup_2021]
fire_time_from_fire_to_flowering (numerical): 2.4 mo (2.4-2.4 mo) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): green (1); white_cream (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_width (numerical): 4 mm (3-5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 4 mm (3-5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 650.9 mm2 (391.47-1177.33 mm2) [sources: Everingham_2020]
leaf_length (numerical): 57.5 mm (30-100 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 16.25 mm (7-26 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 34.37 mg (18.13-70.2 mg) [sources: Everingham_2020]
petiole_length (numerical): 0.7 cm (0.4-1 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 52.85 g/m2 (35.04-81.41 g/m2) [sources: Everingham_2020]
leaf_type (categorical): broadleaf (1) [sources: Stewart_1995]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); lanceolate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Kew_2019_3; Stewart_1995]
plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (7) [sources: Hughes_1992; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; Stewart_1995; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; Stewart_1995]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Stewart_1995]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]
dispersers (categorical): wind (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]
flowering_time (categorical): nnyyyyyynnnn (2); nyyyynnnnnnn (1) [sources: Hughes_1992; NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014]
seedbank_location (categorical): canopy_seedbank (2) [sources: NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: Pickup_2021]
seed_dormancy_class (categorical): non_dormant (1) [sources: Ooi_2007]
bud_bank_location (categorical): epicormic_buds (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 13.3 mg/g (13.3-13.3 mg/g) [sources: Schmidt_1997]
leaf_delta13C (numerical): -29.79 {delta}[ppth] (-30.94--27.05 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Stewart_1995]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.25 mg (0.01-1.2 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019; Everingham_2020; Kew_2019_1; Ooi_2007]
seed_length (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
seed_width (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]

stem morphology

wood_density (numerical): 0.44 mg/mm3 (0.13-0.82 mg/mm3) [sources: Everingham_2020; Ilic_2000; Lawson_2015]
stem_mass_fraction (numerical): 0.71 g/g (0.42-0.87 g/g) [sources: Everingham_2020]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 18.5 m (8-35 m) [sources: Hughes_1992; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Everingham_2020	12	348	S. E. Everingham, C. A. Offord, M. E. B. Sabot, and A. T. Moles. “Time travelling seeds reveal that plant regeneration and growth traits are responding to climate change”. Ecology 102 (2020), p. e03272. doi: 10.1002/ecy.3272.
Stewart_1995	6	23	G. Stewart, M. Turnbull, S. Schmidt, and P. Erskine. “13C natural abundance in plant communities along a rainfall gradient: a biological integrator of water availability”. Functional Plant Biology 22.1 (1995), pp. 51-55. doi: 10.1071/pp9950051.
NHNSW_2023	12	22	N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Kooyman_2011	9	13	R. Kooyman, M. Rossetto, W. Cornwell, and M. Westoby. “Phylogenetic tests of community assembly across regional to continental scales in tropical and subtropical rain forests”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20 (2011), pp. 707-716. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00641.x.
Ooi_2007	2	13	M. K. J. Ooi, P. Myerscough, and T. Auld. “Unpublished data: Longterm seed mass field campaign, University of New South Wales”. 2007.
NSWFRD_2014	10	11	B. Kenny, C. Orscheg, E. Tasker, M. A. Gill, and R. Bradstock. NSW Flora Fire Response Database, v2.1. database. NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, 2014.
Wright_2000	10	10	I. J. Wright, H. T. Clifford, R. Kidson, M. L. Reed, B. L. Rice, and M. Westoby. “A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: Cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages”. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 69 (2000), pp. 521-547. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01222.x.
Pickup_2021	5	5	M. Pickup and T. McDonald. Bushfire impacts — A national model for assessing local landscape restoration priorities. Project Phoenix Report. Greening Australia, 2021. url: https://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1.02R2.pdf.
Kew_2019_1	1	4	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Sjostrom_2006	4	4	A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
Hughes_1992	3	3	L. Hughes and B. Rice. “Unpublished data: Traits data for 643 species, Macquarie University”. 1992.
NHNSW_2014_2	3	3	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2022	3	3	N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Ilic_2000	1	2	J. Ilic, D. Boland, M. McDonald, D. G, and P. Blakemore. Woody density phase 1 - State of knowledge. National Carbon Accounting System. Technical Report 18. Tech. rep. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, Australia, 2000.
Kew_2019_3	2	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Salt and water tolerance data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Lawson_2015	1	2	J. R. Lawson, K. A. Fryirs, and M. R. Leishman. “Data from: Hydrological conditions explain wood density in riparian plants of south-eastern Australia”. Dryad Digital Repository (2015). doi: 10.5061/dryad.72h45.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ANBG_2019	1	1	Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
Schmidt_1997	1	1	S. Schmidt and G. Stewart. “Waterlogging and fire impacts on nitrogen availability and utilization in a subtropical wet heathland (wallum)”. Plant, Cell and Environment 20.10 (1997), pp. 1231-1241. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3040.1997.d01-20.x.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.