Agonis
(from agon, a gathering, a collection; in allusion to the number of the seeds). SYN. Billiottia. ORD. Myrtaceae. A genus comprising ten species of greenhouse, evergreen shrubs or small trees, natives of West Australia. Flowers rather small, sessile, in dense globose, axillary or terminal heads; calyx segments five, often scariose; petals five, spreading; stamens free sometimes ten, opposite and alternate with the petals, sometimes twenty or more; bracts imbricating, often involucrate. Leaves alternate, often crowded on the branchlets, small or narrow and coriaceous, entire. A. flexuosa and A. marginata are rare in this country, but are grown at Kew. They should be firmly potted in a compost of turfy loam and peat, with a liberal addition of sand. Water must be frequently given during the growing season, but more sparingly during winter. In autumn, the plants may be placed in a sheltered and sunny position, to ripen their wood and induce the formation of buds. In the South of England, these plants may prove hardy. Propagation may be effected by cuttings of the half-ripened shoots, inserted in sandy peat, under a bell glass.
A. flexuosa (flexible). fl.-heads white, axillary, surrounded by broad bracts, which, with the numerous long, white stamens, are the most attractive features of the inflorescence. Summer. l. lanceolate, like those of the Willow, smooth, dark green, the margins tinged with purple. h. (in Australia) 40ft; may be limited to the size of a small pot shrub. (Gn. xxix. 534.) A. marginata (margined). fl.-heads white, axillary and terminal, about twenty-flowered; petals small; stamens long, hair-like. Summer. l. coriaceous, slightly hairy, in other respects like those of the common Box. Branches twiggy, numerous, the youngest ones silky-hairy.