MR. G. BEXTIIAM: on aiYRTACE.E. 135 



foliage of the polyandrous BjBckeas, with which F. Mueller thinks 

 it should be united; but the large coloured caljx gives to the 

 single species so peculiar an aspect, that we were unwilling to 

 suppress the genus, so long, at any rate, as the fruit and ripe seeds 

 shall remain unknown. 



The remaining Leptospermese have, as far as known, the cotyle- 

 dons always as long as or longer than the radicle ; and the stamens, 

 when not forming a regular ring, are (except in Agonis) gathered 

 in clusters or bundles opposite to the petals, and interrupted oppo- 

 site to the sepals, whilst the reverse has been seen to take place in 

 the polyadelphous Baeckeese. They comprise four groups or sub- 

 tribes, viz. : — (1) ErLKPTOSFERMEiEand (2) Beatjfortie.*:, agree- 

 ing with each other in their small or narrow coriaceous leaves, and 

 almost universally closely sessile flowers, but differing in the an- 

 thers, versatile in EuleptospermesB, erect and fixed by the base in ' 

 Beaufortieae ; (3) Eucalypte^, usually with large leaves and 

 pedunculate, mostly umbellate flowers, and I'emarkable for the 

 truncate calyx and broad truncate base of the petals, whether 

 united in a calyptra or separately deciduous ; and (1) Metrosi- 

 DERE^, which have myrtle-like or large leaves and pedunculate 



flowers, with the petals rounded or contracted at the base, as in 



Euleptospermeae. 



The EuLEPTosPERME-^ comprise four genera with free stamens, 

 and three with polyadelphous ones. The first one, Agoxis, DC, 

 agrees in its alternate leaves and short stamens with Lepto- 

 spermum, of which it was formerly considered a section; but the 

 arrangement of the stamens is exceptional in the subtribe, beiiig 

 precisely that of Ba^ckeeae, whilst the inflorescence and ovary are 

 nearer to i\\OBe oi Melaleuca than oi Leptospermum. The seeds 

 also, as far as known (for they have been seen in three only of 

 tlie ten species), agree with Melaleuca^ and prevent our ranking 

 Agonis amongst Baeckeese ; we have therefore placed it at the 

 commencement of Euleptospermese as a connecting link between 



the two subtribes. 



Leptospermum, Eorst., is an old genus, which we found in a 

 singular state of confusion. In the first place, it long formed a 

 common receptacle for all capsular Myrtaceae with small coria- 

 ceous leaves and numerous short stamens. Again, a few com- 

 mon species, scarcely distinguishable by any positive characters, 

 are yet so polymorphous, especially in our gardens, as to have 

 been enormously multiplied by horticultural botanists, whilst 

 almost all those which showed any tangible specific diff'erences 



