Melaleuca. polyadelphia polyandria. 395 



iiig plants of the tree; Dr. Fleming therefore gave Mr. SiDith 

 strict orders to be very careful to get the proper sort, two or 

 three being mentioned by Rumphius, from which the best 

 oil was obtained. This commission Mr. S. executed to our 

 satisfaction, many thriving plants having been sent to the 

 garden by the close of the year, where they continue to grow 

 freely, and in six and seven years ihcy began to blossom at 

 various times of the year, which they have hitherto continu- 

 ed to do, and to ripen their seeds perfectly. From them 

 numerous plants have been reared, and not only distributed 

 over many parts of the continent of India, but sent to various 

 other quarters of the world. It is from the original young 

 trees, now (1811,) thirteen years old, that the following de- 

 scription, and the accompanying figures are taken. 



Trunk tolerably erect, but crooked ; and slender for the 

 age of the trees. Bark of a very light or whitish ash-colour, 

 soft, thick, and spongy, pretty smooth on the surface, the ex- 

 terior lamina peels ofFfrom time to time in thin flakes, like that 

 of the birch tree ; and the interior part may be separated into 

 numerous lamina, like the leaves of a book. Branches scat- 

 tered, with the slender twigs often drooping as completely 

 as in the weeping willow, they are round and smooth ; young 

 shoots sericeous; height of the young trees (thirteen years.) 

 above mentioned about twelve feet, and the thickest part of 

 the trunk not more than a man's leg, including the bark, 

 which is three quarters of an inch thick. Leaves alternate, 

 projecting in every direction, but most frequently vertical, 

 short-petioled,narrow-lanceolar, while young sericeous, some- 

 times slightly ftdcate, entire ; from three to five inches long, 

 and from half to three quarters of an inch broad; on being 

 bruised they smell strong of the balsam they yield, yet the 

 cells which contain this aromatic fluid, are scarcely visible in 

 the fresh leaves. Spikes terminal, and from the extreme axills, 

 downy, while in flower there is only a scaly conic bud at the 

 apex, which soon advances into a leafy branchlet. Brac- 

 tes solitary, lanceolate, sericeous, three-flowered, caducous. 



Xx2 



