Origin
Australia, New Guinea, and Solomon Islands.
Ecological Impact
Listed as a Category I invasive species for all regions of Florida by the Florida Invasive Species Council and listed as a prohibited aquatic plant and Noxious Weed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Grows extremely fast, producing dense stands that displace native plants, diminish animal habitat, and provide little food for wildlife (Laroche 1994b). Has become abundant in pine flatwoods, sawgrass marshes, and cypress swamps of south Florida (Nelson 1994). Now recognized internationally as a threat to the Florida Everglades, a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve (D. C. Schmitz, 1994 Congressional testimony)
Description
Evergreen tree to 33 m (100 ft) tall, with a slender crown and soft, whitish, many-layered, peeling bark. Leaves alternate, simple, grayish green, narrowly lance shaped, to 10 cm (4 in) long and 2 cm (3/4 in) wide, with a smell of camphor when crushed. Flowers in creamy white “bottle brush” spikes to 16 cm (6 in) long. Fruit a round, woody capsule, about 3 mm (3/8 in) wide, in clusters surrounding young stems, each capsule holding 200-300 tiny seeds.
Identification Tips
Soft, light colored, peeling bark. Leaves, fruit capsules, and flower form are very similar to the punktree's red-flowered relative the bottlebrush tree, M. viminalis (syn. Callistemon viminalis), which is a Category 2 invasive in south Florida, according to the Florida Invasive Species Council (FISC).
History
Introduced to Florida for ornament in 1906 (Laroche 1994b).
Range
Central and south Florida
Prevention/Management Strategies
Seedlings and saplings can be pulled out by hand, removed and placed in a pile so they do not re-root. Girdle larger trees and apply herbicide. Cut the tree down before seed production and treat stump with herbicide.
Biological Control: In 1997 the Melaleuca snout beetle (Oxyops vitiosa) was released in Florida after Australian field studies and laboratory testing demonstrated the insect would reproduce only on melaleuca.