Melaleuca brachyandra
Melaleuca brachyandra, commonly known as prickly bottlebrush or scarlet bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia in Australia. (Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name Callistemon brachyandrus.) It is a shrub or small tree with narrow leaves and showy red and green flowers making it an ideal ornamental plant in temperate areas. Description Melaleuca brachyandra is a shrub growing to tall with hard bark and a rigid habit. Its leaves are arranged alternately and are long, wide, linear in shape, kidney-shaped in cross section and with the end tapering to a sharp point. The flowers are arranged in spikes on the ends of branches that continue to grow after flowering. The spikes are up to in diameter with 7 to 36 individual flowers. The petals are long and fall off as the flower ages. There are 50 to 84 stamens in each flower, with their "stalks" (the filaments) rich crimson and "tips" (the anthers) green. Flowering occurs from September to January and is followed by fruits that are woody capsules, long. Taxonomy and naming Melaleuca brachyandra was first formally described in 2006 by Lyndley Craven