Melaleuca salicina, also called willow bottlebrush, is a fast-growing shrub or small tree from eastern Australia with soft pink new growth, white papery bark and creamy bottlebrush flowers in spring. It is adaptable to many soils and tolerates wet or dry conditions, but it is not frost hardy.
Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Tree, Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then tolerate both wet and dry spells once mature.
Soil
Wide range of soil types, including heavy and sandy soils.
Temperature
Frost tender; protect from frost. Suited to warm temperate to subtropical climates.
How easy
Easy
About
Melaleuca salicina, commonly known as willow bottlebrush is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. Some Australian state herbaria continue to use the name Callistemon salignus, a name that is accepted by the Australian Plant Census. It is a shrub or small tree with soft foliage, pink new growth, white papery bark and spikes of usually white or creamy bottlebrush flowers in spring.
How to grow it
Melaleuca salicina has been known in gardens over many years, usually as Callistemon salignus. Under that synonym it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It can be used for providing shelter and screening and is well-suited as a street tree, or for planting in parks and gardens. Additionally, flowers will attract birds to a garden. The species is suited to a wide range of soil types, and can tolerate both wet and dry conditions and near-coastal exposure but it is not frost tolerant.
Pink and red forms are seen in cultivation.
Where it grows
This melaleuca occurs in New South Wales from the border with Victoria along the coast and ranges to the Biloela and Bundaberg districts in Queensland. It grows along watercourses and coastal waterways and on river flats .
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Melaleuca salicina by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.