Melaleuca, Punk Tree

Melaleuca quinquenervia L.

mell-uh-LOO-kah kwen-kwah-NUR-veeh-ah

Myrtaceae

Explanation of name: According to DAV, generic name means having a black trunk and white branches.  Specific epithet indicates five veins. 

Natural range: Australia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands (CHR)

Recognition: Evergreen tree with a slender crown and drooping branches.  Grows to usually about 40 feet tall, potentially to 100 feet. Bark is whitish and spongy, peeling off in thin layers. Leaves are alternate, simple, leathery and lanceolate to 4” long, emitting a camphor odor when bruised.  Flowers are creamy white, arranged in "bottle brush" spikes up to 6 inches long.  Fruits are small woody capsules clustered on twigs.  Each capsule contains several hundred tiny seeds.  (CHR)

Landscape uses:  One of the state's worst invasive weeds, it is a Category I on the FEPPC invasive exotic pest list.

Notes:  Species was introduced in Florida in 1906 as an ornamental.  Seeds were scattered over the Everglades in the 1930s in an attempt to create forests and to drain the land.  Today state and federal agencies are actively working to control the spread of this exotic menace.