Melaleuca pulchella

Melaleuca pulchella

Melaleuca pulchella, commonly known as the claw flower, is a woody shrub of the Myrtaceae family native to Western Australia. It is one of the many species described by the botanist Robert Brown. Growing as a spreading shrub, Melaleuca pulchella may grow anywhere from 30 cm to 1.7 m (or rarely 3 m) high. The numerous arching branches bear many small leaves which are ovate to elliptic in shape and measure 0.2–0.6 cm in length by 0.1–0.3 cm wide. The leaf undersides have large oil glands. Appearing from spring (October) to autumn, the flowers are pink to mauve in colour with purple sepals. Hooked, the flowers are claw-like in appearance. Flowering is followed by small urn-shaped seed pods about 0.6 cm in diameter