Narrow-leaf paperbark

Melaleuca linariifolia, the narrow-leaved paperbark or snow-in-summer, is a small to medium evergreen tree in the Myrtaceae reaching 6–10 m tall, often with a short, twisted trunk and several main branches forming a dense, rounded crown. The bark is conspicuous: thick, white to pale grey, soft, and exfoliating in many fine papery layers. Young branchlets are silky-pubescent. Leaves are opposite, decussate, linear to narrowly elliptic, 2.5–4.5 cm long and only 1–4 mm wide, dark green, glabrous when mature, with a pointed apex and an entire margin; they are dotted with small translucent oil glands and release a sharp, eucalyptus-like aroma when crushed. The inflorescences are dense terminal spikes 3–5 cm long of small, creamy white flowers, the staminal bundles each comprising 30–60 long stamens fused at the base and giving the spike a fluffy, bottlebrush-like appearance that almost completely covers the tree at peak flowering in early summer. Fruits are small, woody, cup-shaped capsules 2.5–4 mm wide that persist on the older wood. It is native to swampy stream banks and floodplains of eastern New South Wales and southern Queensland.