Prickly-leaf paperbark

Melaleuca nodosa, the prickly-leaf paperbark or ball honey-myrtle, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the Myrtaceae family native to coastal heathlands and sandy woodlands of eastern Australia. The plant typically reaches two to five metres in height, occasionally taller, with a dense bushy habit and characteristic thick papery bark that peels in soft creamy-white layers. The alternate leaves are stiff, narrow, and needle-like, twelve to thirty millimetres long, with a sharp pungent point that gives the species its common name, arranged in spirals along the branchlets. From late spring through summer the plant produces dense globular heads of fragrant cream to pale yellow flowers about two centimetres across, the colour deriving chiefly from the conspicuous bundles of stamens. The fruits are small woody cup-shaped capsules clustered along the older stems, persisting on the branches for many years.