toothed at the mouth, the alternate teeth smaller. FetaU fom- to six, placed at tbe mouth of the calyx. Stamens
variable in mimber, placed on the tube, or at its base, and then almost hypogjTious. Ovary two-ccUed, with many
o\-ules attached to a spongy placenta on the axis. StyU slender. Stigma capitate. CapsuU enclosed in the tube
o f the cal}-x. (Name from Xv^pov, blood; in allusion to the colour o f the flowers.)
1. Lythrum Salicaria (Linn. Sp. PI. 64*0) ; erectum, fo liis oppositis verticillatisve linearibus lineari-
lanceolatisve sessilibus basi cordatis.— B e Cand. P ro d r . iii. 8 2 ; En g l. B o t. t. 1 0 6 1 . {Gunn, 3 0 .)
H a b . Common in w e t places throu gh ou t th e Colony.— (PI. midsummer.) («. v.)
D i s t r i b . Eastern Australia, from the tropics southward, Europe, aud temperate Asia and N o r th
America.
A very handsome aud common plant, conspicuous for its long spikes of bright rose-eolom-ed flowers.— Glabrous
or pubescent. Stems four-angled, 2 - 4 feet high, leafy. Leaves 1 -3 inches long, very variable in breadth,
Hnear-lanceolate or narrow linear-oblong, acute, cordate at the base. Spikes a span to 1 §• foot long. Flowers in
axillary whorls, shortly pedieelled. Calyx about 4 k c h long, deeply ribbed, very frequently six-toothed. FetaU
spreading, equal in number to the calj-x-teeth. Stamens inserted near the base o f the calyx, about twice as many
as the petals ; filaments slender ; anthers small. Style very slender, exserted.— This is the common English
Loose-strife.”
2 . Lythrum hy ssopifolia (L inn. Sp. PI. 6 4 2 ) ; foliis oppositis alternisque lineari-oblongis lan c eolatisve
obtusis, floribus axillaribus subsessilibus, petalis oblongis, staminibus 5 - 8 .— B e Cand. P ro d r . iii. 8 1 ;
E n g l. B o t. t. 2 9 2 . {Gnnn, 81.)
H a b . Nor th ern part o f the Islan d , Gunn. (Introd. ?)
D i s t e i b . S outh-east Australia, Europe, temperate N o r th and South America, and S o u th Africa.
A much smaller and more slender species than the preceding, glabrous.— Stems glabrous, ascending, slender,
branched. Leaves alternate (rarely opposite), -4-1 inch long, sessile, linear-oblong, obtuse. Flowers solitaiy, sessile
or shortly pedieelled.— This is the “ Hyssop-leaved Loose-strife” o f England, where it is a rare plant, though
abundant in many other parts o f the world.
X at. O rd . X X X I . 1\IYIITACEÆ.
T his is one o f the largest Australian families o f plants, and bears in that country a greater proportion
to other flowering plants tban in any other part o f th e world. The species are no less remarkable for their
variety and beauty, th an for th e nature o f th e timber o f many, the odour o f their foliage, and th e sin gu larity
o f the ir botanical characters. Upwards o f 6 5 0 Anstralian M y rta ceæ are known, a great many o f
which are undescribed. The great majority o f these b elon g to th e Tribes Chamælaucieæ and Leptosperraeæ,
both o f wliich are very rare ou t o f Australia, th e few M y rteæ proper, which number scarcely 2 0 known
species, b e in g almost exc lu sively tropical. The preponderance o f th e Order is also extratropical, there
being 8 0 tropical sp e cies; 2 0 0 in th e south-eastern extratropical, and nearly 4 0 0 in the south-western
extratropical quarters o f Australia. Scarcely a sin g le species is common to th e sou th -east and south-we st
shores o f th e coutinent, and many genera (upwards o f 2 0 ), are wholly occidental, some o f them containing
a ho st o f species, as G e n e ty llis (2 0 ) , Ve rtico rd ia (5 0 ), B e a u fo r tia (1 5 ), Calothamnos (3 0 ). Other genera
agaiu, as Agonis, contain only one south-eastern species and many south-western, so th a t in every respect
the maximum development o f th e Order is in th e south-west.
Gen. I . C A L Y C O TH R IX , Lab.
C alyx bibracteolatus ; tubo lon g e supra ovarium producto, gracili ; lim b i lobis 5 , apice in setam
desinentibus. P e ta la 5 , fauce calycis inserta. S tam m a 1 0 v. plurima, cum petalis inserta, libera. Ovarium
1-loculare. Ovula 2 , e placenta basilari erecta, anatropa. C apsula 5-costata, abortu monosperma.—
Folia sp a rsa ; stip u lis m in u tis.
A very handsome and exclusively Australian genus, of which about fifty species are known ; of these thii-ty
are south-western, and ten tropical. The long, delicate bristle, terminating each lobe o f the calyx, at once distinguishes
it from its Tasmanian allies. I t and the following belong to a peculiar Australian section o f the Order
{Chamælaucieæ), by some considered as a separate Order, in which the leaves are often alternate, sometimes stipulate.
and the ovaiy is one-celled, with one or more erect ovules. (Name from koXv|, the calyx, and 6pi$, a hair.)
1 . Calycothrix glabra (Br. in D e Cand. Prodi'. iii. 2 0 8 ) ; foliis petiolatis linearibus glabris mar-
gineve ciliatis, staminibus 1 2 - 2 9 .— L in d l. B o t. B eg . t. 4 0 9 ; Lo d d . B o t. Cab. t. 5 8 6 . C. Brownii e t C.
Baueri, Schauei-, Monog. M y r t. Xeroc. i. 1 0 9 .
Var. a . g la b e ir im a ; ramuUs brevibus dense foliosis, foliis trigon is an gu ste linearibus subacutis ob tu sisve
superne (sicco) concavis non ciliatis. {Gunn, 1 3 , 4 8 9 , 4 9 0 .)
Var. jS. v k g a t a ; ramulis e longatis virgatis, foliis u t in var. a .— C. virgata, A . Cunn. B o t. Mag.
t. 3 3 2 3 .
Var. 7 . c i l i a t a ; ramulis brevibus fasciculatis pubescentibus, foliis dense con ge stis latioribus margimbus
spinuloso-ciliatis. {G m n , 8 0 6 .)
H a b . Ro ck y coasts, in a sandy soil, in several places.— Var. a . W e s t Head, Tamar River, Rocky
Cape, and S ou th E sk River. Var. )3. Port Arthur. Var. 7 . Sisters’ H ills and Rocky Cape, Gunn.— (El.
O c t .-D e c .) {v. V.)
D i s t r i b . South-eastern Australia. (Cultivated in England.)
A shrub, 2 -3 feet high, the var. 7 sometimes gi'owing in water six feet deep, on the banks o f Lake St. Claft,
etc., with generally slender, short branches, covered with small, crowded, heath-like foliage, and bearing tufts of
flowers at the tops.— Branches covered with a pale brown bark. Leaves 4 - 4 inch long, with two minute stipules
at the base of the short petiole ; narrow-linear, trigonous, variable in breadth, sharp or blunt ; margins quite glabrous,
or strongly ciliated with rigid hairs. Floioers rose-coloured, 4 inch across, sessüe in the axils o f tlie leaves.
Calyx enveloped at the base in two equitant bracts, its tube lengthened aud filiform, beaiiug five broad subscaiious
lobes, that are suddenly contracted to haft-like points. PetaU narrow-oblong. Stamens about twenty.— Gunn is
inclined to consider that there are two species included under my var. a, oue with erect branches, which has only
been found on the South Esk River; the other with short, spreading brauches; but these forms seem quite undis-
tinguishable iu the dried state ; var. /3, with slender, twiggy brauches, looks to me much more distinct, as does
var. y, with very sliort, abnost fasciculate, pubescent branches, aud broader, strongly ciliated leaves ; but Gunu
considers these to be undoubted forms o f the common C. glabra. I have ventiued fui'ther to reduce Schauer’s M.
Brownii aud Baueri to the same species, the characters he gives being, as far as I can judge, all to be found on
Tasmanian specimens of this species.
Gen. I I . T H R Y P T O M E N E , En dl.
Calyx bibracteolatus, obconicus, supra ovai'ium n on productus, lim b i laciniis orbiculatis subpetaloideis.
P e ta la 5 , parva, orbiculata. S tam in a 5 - 1 0 , omnia fer tilia ; filameuta brevia; anthei-æ didymæ, loculis
globosis, e connective glándula termiuato pendulis. Ovanum 1-loculare. Ovula 2 ^ , e placenta basilari
erecta, collateralia. S ty lu s brevissimus. Capsula obcouica, abortu monosperma. Semen erectum. E m h y o
orthotropus.— Erutices ; foliis oppositis, e x stip u la tis ; floribus subsessilibus, a xillaribus.
A small genus of Southern Australian shrubs.— Leaves smaU, opposite, exstipidate. Flowers also small, axillaiy,
almost sessOe. Calgx with two small bracteoloe at tbe base ; tube obconic ; limb of four, broad, subpetaloid