# Weeping Paperbark (Melaleuca leucadendra)

Australian native seed packet from Native Seed Co.

- Price: A$13.00 per 1 packet, AUD incl. GST
- Availability: in stock
- Shop page: https://www.nativeseedco.org/product/621
- SKU: NSC-621
- Packet contents: approx. 2,000 seeds

Weeping Paperbark is a graceful northern Australian tree with soft, papery white bark and long, weeping branches. Creamy bottlebrush flowers attract honeyeaters and bees, and its quick growth makes it a striking shade and feature tree.

Weeping Paperbark (Melaleuca leucadendra) is one of northern Australia's most beautiful and recognisable trees, found along watercourses and floodplains from the Kimberley across to coastal Queensland. It is a tall, elegantly weeping tree reaching 15-25 metres in good conditions, with a distinctive trunk of soft, layered, papery white bark that peels in long strips. Long narrow leaves hang in graceful curtains, and from late spring through summer the canopy is decorated with creamy white, bottlebrush-shaped flowers that drip with nectar and attract honeyeaters, lorikeets, native bees and flying foxes. Equally happy on the edge of a pond, in seasonally wet ground or in deeper soils with regular watering, it is a fast-growing and tolerant shade tree — a refined, atmospheric choice for larger gardens, parks and revegetation work in warm climates.

## Growing specifications

- Origin: Watercourses across tropical northern Australia
- Form: tree (long-lived perennial); height 10–20 m
- Sun: full sun
- Soil: sandy, loam, clay, seasonally wet
- Drought tolerance: moderate
- Frost: tender
- Coastal / salt tolerant: yes
- Suited climates: tropical, subtropical
- Flowering season: autumn, winter, spring
- Sowing season: spring, summer
- Germination: 7–21 days
- Seed pre-treatment: none
- Attracts: honeyeaters, native bees, birds
- Garden uses: shade tree, wet areas, avenue planting, habitat
- Notes: Thrives beside water and tolerates flooding. A tree for warm, frost-free gardens with space.

## Highlights

- Soft, papery white bark and gracefully weeping habit
- Creamy bottlebrush flowers loved by honeyeaters
- Fast-growing shade and feature tree for warm climates
- Tolerates wet feet, periodic flooding and humid coastal sites

## How to sow

1. Sow seeds in spring or early summer when temperatures are warm.
2. Surface sow onto a moist, well-draining seed-raising mix – seeds need light to germinate.
3. Mist gently to keep the surface damp until germination (14-28 days).
4. Pot on seedlings once they are large enough to handle.
5. Plant out in a sunny position with deep, moisture-retentive soil.
6. Allow plenty of space – mature trees develop a broad, weeping canopy.

## Care

- Water generously while establishing and through dry periods – tolerates seasonally wet ground beautifully.
- Prefers warm to hot climates – best suited to tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate gardens.
- Mulch heavily to keep roots cool and retain moisture.
- Excellent beside ponds, dams or in low-lying parts of the garden that occasionally flood.
- Light formative pruning when young encourages a balanced, graceful canopy.
- Plant away from drains, footpaths and house foundations given the vigorous root system.

Markdown version of https://www.nativeseedco.org/product/621. Catalogue index: https://www.nativeseedco.org/llms.txt