Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T.Blake
Broad-leaved Paperbark, Cajeput, Fivevein Paperbark, Japanese paper wasp
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Melaleuca quinquenervia, commonly known as the broad-leaved paperbark or paper bark tea tree in Australia, niaouli in New Caledonia and punk tree in the United States, is a small- to medium-sized tree of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It grows as a spreading tree up to 20 m (70 ft) tall, with its trunk covered by a white, beige and grey thick papery bark. The grey-green leaves are egg-shaped, and cream or white bottlebrush-like flowers appear from late spring to autumn. It was first formally described in 1797 by the Spanish naturalist Antonio José Cavanilles.
Text from Wikipedia, “Melaleuca quinquenervia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Melaleuca
Melaleuca is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees. They range in size from small shrubs that rarely grow to more than 1 m high, to trees up to 35 m (115 ft). Their flowers generally occur in groups, forming a "head" or "spike" resembling a brush used for cleaning bottles, containing up to 80 individual flowers.
Text from Wikipedia, “Melaleuca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Melaleuca leucadendra var. albida Cheel; Melaleuca leucadendra var. angustifolia L.fil.; Melaleuca leucadendra var. coriacea (Poir.) Cheel; Melaleuca leucadendron var. angustifolia L.f.; Melaleuca leucadendron var. nana Brongn. & Gris and 15 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November in the northern hemisphere (November to May at the habitat, southern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (946 mm of 1309 mm) falls in November to May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.9 °C against a yearly mean of 19.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to November.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1309 mm a year, wettest February at 176 mm, driest September at 53 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1309 mm a year at the habitat, 946 mm of it November to May. Wettest month February at 176 mm, driest September at 53 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 976 mm to 1737 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 42 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 8.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 8.8 °C, the absolute minimum 5.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 11.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 8.5 °C to 17.4 °C), warmest day 26.8 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, without lapse correction; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 27 / 25–29 | 27 / 25–29 | 25 / 23–28 | 23 / 21–26 | 21 / 19–24 | 19 / 16–22 | 18 / 16–22 | 19 / 17–22 | 22 / 19–25 | 23 / 21–27 | 25 / 22–28 | 26 / 24–29 |
| Night °C | 21 / 20–24 | 21 / 20–24 | 20 / 18–23 | 18 / 15–22 | 15 / 13–20 | 12 / 10–18 | 11 / 9–17 | 12 / 9–18 | 14 / 12–19 | 16 / 14–21 | 18 / 16–22 | 20 / 18–24 |
| Rain mm | 132 / 86–244 | 176 / 136–273 | 150 / 99–249 | 134 / 82–181 | 118 / 72–161 | 101 / 52–130 | 68 / 36–91 | 60 / 39–74 | 53 / 33–67 | 81 / 51–96 | 110 / 82–138 | 126 / 81–185 |
| DLI | 41 / 39–42 | 36 / 35–38 | 32 / 31–35 | 26 / 24–30 | 21 / 18–25 | 19 / 16–23 | 21 / 18–25 | 27 / 24–30 | 34 / 31–38 | 38 / 37–42 | 40 / 39–43 | 42 / 41–43 |
| RH % | 62 / 59–65 | 62 / 60–66 | 61 / 60–65 | 60 / 59–64 | 59 / 58–63 | 58 / 57–62 | 56 / 55–60 | 55 / 54–60 | 57 / 55–60 | 58 / 56–61 | 60 / 58–62 | 61 / 59–63 |
Each figure is the median across the 646 grid cells holding the 1341 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2463:6631 (-33.175, 151.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 646 distinct grid cells holding the 1341 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2463:6631 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.00_151.875, no lapse correction (POWER gave no cell elevation). Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 14 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Jay Horn, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Lucas Christofides, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Melaleuca quinquenervia, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Banksia robur broadleaf banksia
Macadamia integrifolia Bauplenut
Eucalyptus grandis Blue Gum
Stenocarpus sinuatus Firewheel tree
Castanospermum australe Australian Chestnut
Araucaria cunninghamii Dorrigo-pineOther Melaleuca 8 in the reference
Melaleuca alternifolia Narrow-leaved paperbark
Melaleuca armillaris Bracelet Honey-myrtle
Melaleuca bracteata Black Tea-tree
Melaleuca cajuputi Cajuput
Melaleuca leucadendra Cajeput
Melaleuca linariifolia Cajeput Tree
Melaleuca nesophila Mindiyed
Melaleuca styphelioides Prickly-leaved Paperbark History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 55 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.