PlantFiles: Totem-poles, Cajeput
Melaleuca decussata

This Melaleuca grows in swampy areas in Victoria and South Australia. It grows well in gardens without the need for extra water. The flowers are an attractive mauve colour, although the heads are small and not particularly conspicuous. The name totem-poles is an unusual one and relates to the seed capsules. The capsules are borne in dense clusters along the stems and are held on the plant for many years. The wood of the growing branches gradually absorbs the capsules into it, and they remain as a swollen section of the branch which gives the supposed appearance of a totem-pole. I have a shrub in my garden about 1.5 metres tall after 12 years. It flowers regularly and some of its earlier seed pods have now become "totem-poles".