Melaleuca alternifolia

(Maiden & Betche) Cheel · species

image placeholder — illustration coming later

Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Myrtales/Myrtaceae/Melaleuca

At a glance

Occurrence records616

Data sources12

Biological traits34

DNA specimens3

eDNA detections2

Sources12 archives

Databases and archives Melaleuca alternifolia's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation13 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility616 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗

BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics3 specimens↗

NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗

dukesphytochemcompounds

LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗

NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗

GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗

Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗

GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗

On this page7 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements4 literature sources34 traits

Chemical compositionDukesPhytochem · LOTUS · NPASS164 compounds

Occurrence & distributionGBIF616 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 0 countries2 detections

DNA & barcodingBOLD · NCBI3 specimens

Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI≈362 Mbp

01Narrative

Melaleuca alternifolia, commonly known as tea tree, is a species of tree or tall shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Endemic to Australia, it occurs in southeast Queensland and the north coast and adjacent ranges of New South Wales where it grows along streams and on swampy flats, and is often the dominant species where it occurs.Habit near Casino

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesWCVPGIFTAusTraitsTRY

Size & morphology12

Fruit width2.25 mm

Leaf length22.5 mm

Leaf length max35 mm

Leaf length min10 mm

Leaf width1 mm

Leaf width max1 mm

Petiole length0.1 cm

Plant height6 m

⚠ sources differ — GIFT: 6 m · AusTraits: 7 m

Plant height max7 m

Seed mass0.11 mg

Seed mass max0.2 mg

Seed mass min0.01 mg

Life cycle & reproduction8

Deciduousnessevergreen

Flowering timennnnnnnnyyyn

Life formshrub

Life spanperennial

Pollination modebiotic

Pollination syndromeinsect

Raunkiær life formphanerophyte

Sex typehermaphrodite

Diet & foraging1

Parasiteindependent

Habitat & environment10

Aquaticterrestrial

Climatesubtropical

Climberself-supporting

Epiphyteterrestrial

Fruit fleshinessdry

Fruit typecapsule

Growth formshrub

Leaf compoundnesssimple

Leaf shapelinear

Woodinesswoody

Physiology & chemistry2

Nitrogen fixingnon_nitrogen_fixer

Photosynthetic pathwayC3

Other traits1

Plant support typefree-standing

03Chemical composition164 compounds

Compounds documented for Melaleuca alternifolia across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").

Compound class profile5 classes

Menthane monoterpenoids $ Monocyclic monoterpenoids18

Aromadendrane sesquiterpenoids15

Monocyclic monoterpenoids8

Cadinane sesquiterpenoids7

Thujane monoterpenoids7

Documented compounds164 total

Tissue Source Quantified only

Compound	Amount	Source
SABINENE	491,400 ppm	DukesPhytochem
TERPINOLENE	429,000 ppm	DukesPhytochem
TERPINEN-4-OL	385,000 ppm	DukesPhytochem
1,8-CINEOLE	368,000 ppm	DukesPhytochem
(+)-TERPINEN-4-OL	247,300 ppm	DukesPhytochem
GAMMA-TERPINENE	211,500 ppm	DukesPhytochem
ALPHA-THUJENE	133,000 ppm	DukesPhytochem

05DNA & barcoding3 specimens

A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Melaleuca alternifolia has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

DNA specimens3

Marker genes3

GenBank sequences3

eDNA detections2

The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species

rbcLAM235658.1 ↗1 144 bp

ACGT

TTCCGAGTAACTCCTCAACCTGGAGTTCCTCCTGAGGAAGCAGGGGCTGCGGTAGCTGCTGAATCTTCTACTGGTACATGGACAACTGTG …

Melaleuca alternifolia chloroplast partial rbcL gene for ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, exon 1, specimen voucher F. Rutschmann fru 84 (Z)

Marker genes sequenced

★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.

★COI-5P★matK1★rbcL2

animal barcodeplant barcode

06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI

The complete instruction manual Melaleuca alternifolia carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.

Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is

Genome size≈362 036 213 bp assembly estimate

Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).

BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb

FUNGUS0.04 Gb

INSECT0.25 Gb

THIS GENOME Melaleuca alternifolia0.36 Gb

HUMAN3.2 Gb

WHEAT17 Gb

FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb

Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers

Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.

Assembly levelScaffold

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type616 records

Wild obs. + sensor406

Museum / vouchered194

Cultivated / captive3

Other13

Origin

Native78

Introduced1

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO1 456 km²

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

Coordinate accuracy99% within 1 km

≤100 m 329≤1 km 31≤10 km 4>10 km 1

365 georeferenced · 41 without coordinates

Open the mapobservation + sensor406

Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence

Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.

Coordinate accuracy54% within 1 km

≤100 m 20≤1 km 65≤10 km 48>10 km 24

157 georeferenced · 37 without coordinates

Open the institutions mapphysical evidence194

Cultivated / Captivenot free-living

A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.

Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km

≤100 m 2≤1 km 1

3 georeferenced

Open the mapnot free-living3

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

10Collections & institutions

Holding institutions14 of 21 geolocated

Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.

Institution	Specimens
Mount Annan, AU	79
Canberra, AU	32
Brisbane, AU	31
Armidale, AU	15
Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record	13
Rotorua, NZ	5
UFBAlocation not on record	3
Seropédica, BR	1
Taipei, TW	1
UFRRJlocation not on record	1
Cuiabá, BR	1
Maringá, BR	1
Hobart, AU	1
UEMlocation not on record	1
Kew, GB	1
UnBlocation not on record	1
TAIElocation not on record	1
Salvador, BR	1
Adelaide, AU	1
Smithfield, AU	1
La Trobe Universitylocation not on record	1

21 institutions · 192 of 194 vouchered records shown · 2 without an institution code

Cultivated / Captivenot free-living

A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.

09Environmental DNA2 detections

Where the DNA of Melaleuca alternifolia was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.

Signal

Detections DNA found2

Studies independent surveys1

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 2 detections have coordinates

Open the map0 countries0

How strong is each trace?

DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.

How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.

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