OP OENAMENTAL EXOTIC PLANTS, 
151 
Specific Character. — Leaves ovate, mucronate, obsoletely three- 
nerved. Calyxes glabrous; calycine teeth membranous, coloured. 
((?. Don.) 
1 .— LEPTOSPEEMUM SCOPARIUM Smith. THE NEW ZEALAND TEA TREE 
Synonymes. — Philadelphus scoparius Ait . ; Melaleuca scoparia 
Wendl. 
Ekgraving. — Bot. Rep., t, 622. 
Description, &c. — A pretty little plant with white flowers, the leaves of which were used as tea by the crew of 
Capt. Cook’s ships when they first visited New Zealand. The tea made from this plant has an agreeable aromatic 
flavour when the leaves are used fresh ; but it is very bitter when made from leaves that have become dry. This tea 
when made very strong was found to occasion sickness in some constitutions. The leaves are still used occasionally 
in making spruce beer, as they are said greatly to improve the flavour of the spruce. A variety of this, L. s. grandi- 
jlorwm, introduced in 1817, is a very showy plant. 
2.— LEPTOSPEEMUM GRANDIPOLIUM Smith. THE LARGE-LEAVED SOUTH-SEA MYRTLE. 
Engravings. — Bot. Mag., t. 1810 ; Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 701. 
Specific Character. — Leaves lanceolate, narrow, mucronate. Calyx villous ; teeth coloured. Bracts of the bud persistent. 
Description, &c. — This is a very ornamental little plant with large white flowers, which are curiously relieved 
by the pale brown of the bracts, or scales, which inclose the bud, and which remain after the expansion of the 
flower. Before the flowers open it is very difficult to tell the difference between the flower and leaf buds, as they 
are both inclosed within the same kind of scales. “ These scales are permanent, and may be considered as bracts, 
forming an involucre at the base of the flower. In consequence of this arrangement, although the flower is really 
terminal, the fruit, by the elongation of the branch, must afterwards necessarily become lateral.” The species is a 
native of Australia and the South-Sea Islands, and it was introduced in 1803. It is a hardy greenhouse shrub, 
and grows freely from cuttings. 
3.— LEPTOSPEEMUM FLAVESCENS Smith. TEE YELLOWISH LEPTOSPEEMUM. 
Synonymes. — L. Thea Willd . ; L. polygalaefolium Salisb . ; Mela- 
leuca Thea Schrad. 
Engraving. — Bot. Mag., t. 2695. 
Specific Character. — Glabrous. Leaves linear-lanceolate, sub- 
mucronate, obscurely three-nerved. Flowers solitary, growing out of 
the apex of the branch. Calyx very glabrous ; teeth roundish, coloured. 
Bmcts deciduous. 
Description, &c. — A moderate-sized shrub, with many twiggy angular branches clothed with reddish-brown 
bark. The leaves are rather small, but very numerous, and they are delicately tipped with pink. The flowers are 
very numerous, and they are white tinged with yellow, the teeth of the calyx being very conspicuous. 
GENUS XIV. 
BILLOTIA R. Br. THE BILLOTIA. 
Lin. Syst. ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Limb of the calyx five-cleft ; lobes triangular. Stamens from twenty to thirty, shorter than the petals. Berry three- 
celled. Flowers sessile, in globose heads. ((?. Don.) 
Description, &c. — This is a very small genus of Australian plants with w'hite flowers crowded into globose 
heads. The name was given to the genus in honour of Madame Billoti of Turin, a celebrated botanical artist. 
