642 
LI. MYRTACE/E. 
[Xantliostemon. 
2. X. pachyspermus (referring to the thick seeds), F. v. M.and Bail., (Jcc. 
Pap. Ql. FI. t. 4. Yellow-wood of the Johnstone River. A glabrous tree of 
medium size, the leaves alternate but often crowded at the ends of the shoots and 
so close as to appear opposite, petiolate, ovate-lanceolate, at times very obtuse but 
always much tapered towards the base, 8 to 5in. long, penniveined, with the 
primary lateral veins rather distant and prominent. Flowers in slender often 
raceme-like panicles, 2 or 3in. long, in the upper axils, on slender pedicels. 
Capsules somewhat globose, more than half superior, f to fin. diameter, opening 
in 8 hard valves, rugose on the back. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell, thick, somewhat 
flattened, 3 or 4 lines diameter, with a thin glossy testa. 
Hab.: Johnstone River, Dr. Thos. L. Bancroft. 
Wood of a grey colour, fine in the grain, tough and strong. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods No. 211. 
By mistake the wood of this tree is described under Halfordia scleroxylon (No. 52a) in the 
Catalogue of the Woods sent to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886. 
3. X. oppositifolius (opposite-leaved), 2 ml Add. to 3rd Suppl. Syn. Ql. Flora. 
Luya’s Hardwood ; Honer, Irontree or Redheart. “ Penda,” Noosa, Luya. A 
large tree, glabrous except the inflorescence and perhaps the early growth, forming 
a barrel of 40 to 50ft., with a diameter up to 4ft. Leaves opposite or here 
and there very rarely alternate ovate-oblong, very obtuse, slightly tapering at 
the base, 2 to 4in. long, 1 to 2fin. broad, rather thick, on petioles of from L to 
lin. long, the primary veins rather close and parallel, joining far within the 
margin, the finer reticulation close and prominent in the dried leaf. Oil-dots 
small but numerous, hidden to the unassisted eye by the thick texture of the leaf. 
Peduncles ^ to lin. long in the upper axils, usually bearing a cyme of 3 or 4 
pedicellate flowers. Bracts small, falling off from the early inflorescence. No 
flowers collected. Capsule nearly globular, about |in. diameter, seated on the 
base of the expanded 4 or o blunt-lobed calyx, opening loculicidally in 3 hard 
valves, the epicarp usually separating from the endocarp in each valve, the 
placenta prominent and spuriously dividing the cells. Seeds numerous, flatly 
compressed. 
Hab.: Noosa. 
This species has the fruiCof -V. clirysanthus, and principally differs from that species in the 
position and form of foliage. Mr. A. F. Luya, from whom I received specimens of the tree, 
said that “ the wood is indestructible except by fire, and is suitable for all kinds of bridge- 
building, for piles, girders, headstocks, Ac., or in fact any work where great strength and 
durability are essential.” 
21. BACKHOUSIA, Hook, and Harv. 
(After James Backhouse.) 
Calyx-tube turbinate or broadly campanulate, adnate to the ovary at the base ; 
lobes 4, almost petal-like or scarious, persistent. Petals 4, shorter than or 
scarcely exceeding the calyx-lobes, usually persistent. Stamens indefinite, free, 
in several series ; anthers versatile, the cells parallel, opening longitudinally. 
Ovary in the bottom of the calyx-tube, inferior or half superior, 2-celled, with 
several ovules in each cell, recurved or pendulous, attached either in 2 rows to an 
axile placenta, or to a placenta pendulous from the apex of the cell ; style 
filiform, with a small stigma. Capsule enclosed in the persistent calyx-tube or 
protruding from it, apparently indehiscent or separating into 2 cocci. Seeds 
obovoid or cuneate ; embryo straight, cotyledons (where known) conduplicate and 
longer than the radicle. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, penniveined. 
Flowers in cymes sometimes reduced to heads or in umbels, on axillary peduncles 
often forming terminal leafy panicles. Bracts very deciduous. 
The genus is confined to Australia, and may be considered in some measure as connecting 
the true Myrteee with the Leptospermecc, but is readily known by the calyx, ovary, and fruit. — 
Benth. 
