MYRTLE FAMILY. 175 



XLHI. HALORAGE^E, WATER MILFOIL FAMILY. 



Contains a few insignificant aquatic or marsh plants, with 

 very small greenish flowers, sessile in the axils of the (often 

 whorled) leaves or bracts, a single ovule and seed suspended 

 in each of the 1-4 cells of the ovary, and 1-8 stamens ; all of 

 them too obscure and unimportant for record here. The 

 species are fully treated in the Manual 



XLIV. MYRTACEJ1, MYRTLE FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with simple, entire, and mostly aromatic 

 leaves, punctate with pellucid or resinous dots, no stipules, 

 perfect flowers, calyx-tube adherent to the ovary, its throat, 

 or a disk bordering it, bearing the petals and numerous 

 stamens ; style and stigma single. A large family in the 

 tropics and southern hemisphere, here commonly known only 

 by a few house-plants, or grown for fruit or ornament far S., 

 which may be briefly noted as follows : 



1. Myrtus communis, Linn. COMMON MYRTLE. From the Mediter- 

 ranean region ; smooth, with ovate or lance-ovate, opposite, shining 

 leaves, small in the variety usually cultivated ; peduncles in their axils 

 hearing a small white or rose-tinged flower (sometimes full double), fol- 

 lowed by a black berry, containing several kidney-shaped seeds. 



2. Eugenia Jambos, Linn. ROSE APPLE. From India ; smooth, with 

 opposite, shining, long, and lanceolate leaves, and clusters of large white 

 flowers, with their long stamens most conspicuous ; the calyx tube 

 dilated and prolonged beyond the ovary, which forms a large edible 

 berry, like a small apple, scentless, but when eaten, of a rose-like savor ; 

 seeds very few, large. 



3. Psidium Guyava, Linn. GUAVA. With oval, feather-veined, opposite 

 leaves, pubescent beneath, and one or two white flowers at the end of an 

 axillary peduncle ; the fruit a large and pear-shaped yellowish berry, 

 which is edible, and from which Guava jelly is made in the West Indies. 

 The WHITE, PEAR, and APPLE GTTAVAS are of this species. P. POMf- 

 FERUM and P. pYRfFERUM are forms of this species. The plant is prob- 

 ably native to tropical America, although now widely distributed. 



P. Cattleianum, Sabine. CATTLE Y GUAVA. Has obovate, and thick, 

 and shining leaves, and a small reddish fruit, which lacks the muskiness 

 of the common sorts. 



4. Callistemon lanceolatus, Sweet. Of Australia, called BOTTLE BRUSH, 

 on account of the appearance of the flowers (sessile all round the stem 

 below the later leaves) with their very long, deep red stamens ; the 5 

 petals small and falling early ; the fruit a small, many-seeded pod, open- 

 ing at the top; the alternate lanceolate leaves remarkable for being 

 turned edgewise by a twist at their base, as in many related Myrtaceous 

 plants of Australia. 



