Tas. 6131. 
MELALEUCA Wixtsont. 
Native of South Austraha. 
Nat. Ord. Myrracem.—Tribe LeprosPERME. 
Genus Mexatevca, Linn. ; (Benth. Fl. Austral., vol. iii. p. 123). 
MEtatevuca Wilsoni; ramulis junioribus exceptis glaberrima, foliis oppositis 
confertis patulis v. in ramulis junioribus imbricatis subulato-lanceolatis 
acutis v. acuminatis subtus convexis obscure 1-3-nerviis, floribus soli- 
tariis v. fasciculatis sparsis v. spicatis, calycis tubo ovoideo glabro basi 
rotundato lobis ovato-lanceolatis subacutis tubum squantibus, petalis 
calycis lobis duplo longioribus ellipticis concavis, staminum phalangiis 
erecto-patentibus 4—pollicaribus spathulatis, filamentis 15-20. 
Meratevca Wilsoni, F. Muell. Fragm., vol. ii. p. 124, t. 15; Benth. Fl. 
Austral., v. iii. p. 134. | 
This is one of that large class of hard-wooded Australian 
plants which, if properly cultivated, would ornament our con- 
servatories and greenhouses at seasons when little else worth 
looking at meets the eye, but which have almost throughout 
the country succumbed to the treatment they have received— 
namely, of watering in season and out of season. The genus 
to which it belongs contains just one hundred species, scat- 
tered over all parts of Australia, amongst which are some of 
the most brilliant-coloured plants of that gay Flora. The 
present is essentially a dry country species, inhabiting the 
desert of the Tattiave country, Port Lincoln, &c., in South 
Australia, as also the country around Lake Hindmarsh in 
the colony of Victoria. It was raised at Kew from seeds 
sent by Baron Muller from the Melbourne Botanic Garden, 
when he was director of that rich botanical establishment ; 
and was named by him after Mr. Charles Wilson, through 
whose aid, he states, this very beautiful species was 
discovered. ' 
Descr. A slender shrub, glabrous, except the puberulous 
young branches. eaves close set, spreading, those on the 
young branches imbricate, one-third to three-quarters of an 
NOVEMBER Ist, 1874. 
