Callistemon
(from kallos, beauty, and stemon, a stamen; in most of the species, the stamens are of a beautiful scarlet colour). ORD. Myrtaceae. Handsome greenhouse evergreen shrubs or trees, having the inflorescence rising from the old branches in crowded spikes, as in the species of Melaleuca, but with the stamens free, as in Metrosideros. Leaves elongated, stiff, alternate, usually lanceolate. All the species of this genus are very ornamental and neat in habit. They are well adapted for a conservatory. The soil best suited for them is a mixture of loam, peat, and sand. Ripened cuttings strike root in sand, under a hand glass; seeds are frequently produced on large plants, and these may also be used to increase the stock, but they do not produce flowering plants for a considerable time; whereas plants raised from cuttings, taken from flowering plants, come into flower when small. C. linearis (linear-leaved).* fl. scarlet; calyces clothed with velvety pubescence. June. l. linear, stiff, acute, keeled beneath, channelled above, villous when young. h. 4ft. to 6ft. New South Wales, 1788. C. lophanthus (crest-flowered). Synonymous with C. salignus. C. salignus (willow). fl. straw-coloured, distinct, spicate, nearly terminal; petals rather pubescent, ciliated; calyx pilose. June to August. l. lanceolate, attenuated at both ends, mucronate, one-nerved, villous when young, as well as the branches. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Australia, 1806. SYN. C. lophanthus. (L. B. C. 1302.) C. speciosus (showy).* fl. scarlet; calyx villous. March to July. l. lanceolate, mucronate, flat, middle nerve rather prominent; when young, rather silky from adpressed villi, and reddish. h. 5ft. to 10ft. West Australia, 1823. SYN. Metrosideros speciosa. (B. M. 1761.)