55 
No. 230. 
Callistemon saligaus DC. 
A White Bottle Brush. 
(Family MYRTACE^E.) 
Botanical description. Genus, Callistemon. (See Part LXI, p. 15). 
Botanical description. Species, salignus DC. Prodr. iii, 223 (1828). 
The history of the species is as follows : 
Smith in Trans. Linn. Soc. iii, 272 (1797) first described this species under the 
name of Metrosideros saligna, as " fqliis alternis lanceolatis utrinque attenuatis 
mucronatis, floribus lateralibus confertis sessilibus glabris," and compares it with 
M. lanceolata (Callistemon lanceolatus). He remarked "that he had a suspicion that this 
might be the Metrosideros viminalis of Gaertner, but the original specimens of that 
species are very different, having linear-lanceolate leaves, not tapering at the ends, 
and downy flowers." The M . viminalis mentioned above has been mixed up in herbaria 
with C. lanceolatus, and Mr. Cheel has described it as a new species ; see Part Ixi, p. 15. 
It is figured as Metrosideros saligna, " Willow-leaved Metrosideros," in Bot. 
Mag. t. 1821 (1816), and the additional references, Willd. Sp. PL ii, p. 956, and Hort. 
Kew ed. alt. iii, p. 185, and Persoon, Syn. ii, p. 26, are given. The statement is made 
that it was introduced into England by Sir Joseph Banks about the year 1788. 
Then we have 
C. salignum. Foliis lanceolatis utrinque acuminatis mucronatis adultis glabris, nervo medio 
pennivenoso, nervalis lateralibus margini approximatis, calycibus glabris." Metrosideros saligna Smith 
(as quoted); Sims' Bot. Mag. t. 1821; Vent. Hort. Gels. t. 70; Bonpl. Nav. t. 4. Also " Flores pallide 
flavescentes. Stamina petalis sub-rotundis vix triple longiora. (DC. Prod, iii, 223 [1828], which is the 
date of the inscription of the species as Oallistemon. Sieber's specimen No. 320, Pis. Exs. is the type. 
This description is translated into English in Gen. Hist. Dichlamydeous Plants (Don) ii, 822 (1832) in 
the following words : 
Leaves lanceolate, acuminated at both ends, mucronate, glabrous in the adult state, with the 
middle nerve feather-veined, and the lateral nervules approximating the margins ; calyces glabrous. Native 
of New Holland. Metrosideros saligna Smith, in Lin. trans. 3, p. 272 ; Vent. Hort. Cels. t. 70 ; Bonpl. Nov., 
t. 4 ; Sieb. PL Exsic. No. 320. Flowers pale yellow. Stamens hardly 3-times the length of the petals 
which are roundish. 
Willowy Callistemon. Fl., May, July. Ct. 1788. Shrub 4 .to 6 feet. 
Mueller, in Fragm. iv, 54 (1864), described it in Latin and gives a copious 
synonymy, enumerating as forms, typica, C. paludosus, C. viridiflorus, C. Sieberi. 
