Weeping bottlebrush

Metrosideros viminalis Solander ex Gaertner, Fruct. Sem. Pl. 1: 171, plate 34, fig. 4. 1788; Callistemon viminalis (Solander ex Gaertner) G. Don ex Loudon

Shrubs or trees, 1–35 m; bark fibrous, hard. Leaves alternate; blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic or narrowly obovate, 2.5–13.8 × 0.3–2.7 cm, veins pinnate, surfaces glabrescent. Inflorescences 15–50-flowered, flowers in monads, pseudoterminal or interstitial, 35–50 mm wide. Flowers: calyx lobes hairy or glabrescent abaxially, margins herbaceous; petals deciduous, 3.4–5.9 mm; filaments connate in bundles of 9–14, usually in 5 distinct bundles, these sometimes obscure, especially when claw is very short, red or crimson, 13–26 mm, bundle claw to 2.2 mm; style 16–29 mm; ovules ca. 100 per locule. Capsules 3.8–4.8 mm. Cotyledons obvolute.

Flowering spring. Disturbed riparian areas; 0–400 m; introduced; Calif., Fla.; Australia.

Melaleuca viminalis is well known in cultivation and is widely grown for its showy flowers. The species is an unusual member of the bottlebrush group of Melaleuca in that its staminal filaments are connate into five bundles; most other species of bottlebrush have distinct stamens.