THE MYRTLE FAMILY. 
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trees. Occasionally the seed is surrounded by a 
fleshy substance forming a berry; this form of fruit, 
however, only occurs in one Victorian species, 
Eugenia Smithii. To the Myrtle family belong aU 
the so-called “tea” trees, bottle brushes, and gum 
trees. The most prominent and important genus of 
plants in this family is the Eucalyptus, which is of 
such consequence as to deserve a special chapter to 
itself. 
Next in importance come the various shrubs and 
trees known as tea (or ti) trees. The leaves of these 
plants are not used for making tea, as one would sup- 
pose; the name has arisen as a result of the use of 
the leaves of one species, Leptospermum scoparium, 
to make a tea infusion, which was used during one of 
Captain Cook’s expeditions as a remedy for scurvy. 
The modern spelling of this common name is ti-tree, 
a corruption from the original common name. There 
is no reason for the change, and the old spelling, if a 
common name be used, should be adhered to. 
The tea-trees as here known are naturally separated 
into two genera, Leptospermum and Melaleuca, but 
the former is really the tea-tree section, the latter 
being more allied to the bottle-brushes or Callistemon. 
The Leptospermum family has open single flowers, 
generally white, but sometimes cream or pink. There 
are usually five petals, and these are fairly large. 
The commonest is Leptospermum laevigatum, which is 
our ordinary coastal tea-tree, and which abounds 
along the sand hills adjacent to the sea-shore; it also 
occurs inland. It is covered with masses of bloom 
in spring, and is a handsome shrub w’hether in nature 
