Punk tree, broad-leaved paperbark, niauoli

Metrosideros quinquenervia Cavanilles, Icon. 4: 19, plate 333. 1797

Trees, 1–18 m; bark papery. Leaves alternate; blade usually narrowly elliptic to elliptic, rarely somewhat falcate, 5.5–12 × 1–3.1 cm, veins 5–7, longitudinal, surfaces glabres­cent. Inflorescences 15–54-flowered, flowers in triads, pseudoterminal, sometimes also axillary distally, to 40 mm wide. Flowers: calyx lobes glabrous abaxially, margins scarious, 0.3–0.4 mm wide; petals deciduous, 2.5–3.5 mm; filaments connate in bundles of 5–10, white, cream, greenish white, green, creamy white, or creamy yellow, 10.5–20 mm, bundle claw 0.9–2.5 mm; style 11–18 mm; ovules ca. 50–65 per locule. Capsules 2.7–4 mm. Cotyledons obvolute. 2n = 22.

Flowering year-round (commonly in fall); 0–30 m; introduced; Fla., La.; Asia (Malesia); Pacific Islands (New Caledonia); Australia; introduced also elsewhere in Pacific Islands (Hawaii), widely elsewhere.

Melaleuca quinquenervia is a serious woody weed of wetland habitats in Florida and Louisiana. Mechanical control has not been successful and research in recent years has been focused upon biological control.