Callistemon viminalis (Sol. ex Gaertn.) G.Don

Melaleuca viminalis (Sol. ex Gaertn.) Byrnes

creek bottlebrush, drooping bottlebrush, red bottlebrush, weeping bottlebrush

Australia: along water courses particularly in eastern coastal regions of New South Wales and Queensland.

In New Zealand almost exclusively found in cultivation; only a few records of it self-establishing. Several cultivars of this species have been selected, including Callistemon viminalis ‘Captain Cook’, ‘Hanna Ray’, ‘Little John’ (a low-growing selection) and ‘Wild River’.

Scattered records from mainly urban areas in the North Island and a few from the South Island of New Zealand.

• Leaves >3 mm wide.
• Leaf lateral veins obscure.
• Flowers at first in terminal spikes, but spike axes soon growing out into leafy shoots.
• Two rows of stamens fused into a ring, shed as a unit.
• Filaments red.

Small to large tree with pendulous branches, to 6 m tall.

Bark dark and furrowed. Branchlets with hairs.

Adult leaves alternate, linear to narrow-elliptic, 30–70 mm long, 3–7 mm wide; leaf blade flat, hairy when young, soon becoming hairless, leaf surfaces not puckered; margins entire, with one side straighter than the other; tips pointed; leaf bases becoming gradually narrower; leaf stalks absent.

Flowers produced in cylindrical spikes 40–100 mm long, 30–60 mm diam., flowers ± 5–7 mm in diam., stalks absent, petals 5, yellow-green to cream; sepals 5, tips free, hairy; stamens red, longer than petals, fused into a ring, shed as a unit, anthers yellow-green. Main flowering period: spring to early summer.

Fruit dry, 3–4-locular, each fruit ± 5–6 mm wide, cup-shaped with a wide opening.

Callistemon citrinus, C. salignus and C. viminalis are similar, but C. citrinus differs in that the leaves possess obvious lateral veins and are lightly lemon-scented when crushed, coupled with flowers that are generally pink, to red to purple and possess free stamens, as opposed to leaves that have obvious lateral veins but are not lemon-scented coupled with mostly cream-white to yellow flowers with free stamens in C. salignus, and unscented leaves without obvious lateral veins coupled with red flowers and stamens fused into a ring in C. viminalis.

Callistemon viminalis is susceptible to myrtle rust (caused by Austropuccinia psidii).

Callistemon is a genus of about 50 species endemic to Australia. Some consider Callistemon to be better placed in Melaleuca. We follow the Australian Plant Census (APC) by recognising them as separate genera.

• Australia’s Flora: Growing Native Plants
• Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (Melaleuca viminalis)
• CitSciHub (Melaleuca viminalis ‘Little John’)
• CitSciHub (Melaleuca viminalis)
• GBIF
• iNaturalist NZ (Melaleuca viminalis)
• PlantNET: New South Wales Flora Online
• Plants of South Eastern New South Wales