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Leptospermum (From leptos slender and sperma)

(from leptos, slender, and sperma, a seed; seeds slender). Including Fabricia. ORD. Myrtaceae. This genus comprises about twenty-five species of greenhouse or half-hardy shrubs, rarely small trees, mostly natives of Australia. Flowers usually white, sessile, or rarely shortly pedicellate, solitary, or two or three together, at the ends of short branch-lets, or in the axils of the leaves. Leaves alternate, small, rigid, entire, nerveless, or one or three-nerved. Leptospermums thrive in a compost of loam and peat, to which may be added a small quantity of sand and charcoal. Propagated by cuttings of young shoots, placed in sand, under a glass, during May; or by seeds, sown in gentle heat, during March. The species are not very generally cultivated.

L. ambiguum (ambiguous). A synonym of Kunzea corifolia. L. attenuatum (thin). fl. white, usually two on a short silky peduncle; calyx tube densely silky-pubescent. Summer. l. linear-lanceolate, acute. h. 3ft. to 6ft. Australia, 1795.

L. flavescens (yellowish). fl. white; calyces glabrous. Summer. l. linear-lanceolate, obtuse, dotted. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Australia, 1788. L. f. grandiflorum (large-flowered). fl. white, large; calyces villous, with coloured teeth. Summer. l. lanceolate, narrowed at both ends, mucronate. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Australia, 1803. (L. B. C. 514.) L. f. obovatum (obovate). fl. white; calyces glabrous, with coloured teeth. Summer. l. obovate, emarginate, glabrous. Branches angular, a little winged. h. 3ft. to 6ft. Australia.

L. laevigatum (smooth). fl. axillary, solitary and sessile, or nearly so, or very rarely two together, on a common peduncle. l. from obovate-oblong to oblong-cuneate, or narrow-oblong, obtuse, mostly 1/2in. to 3/4in. long. h. 20ft. to 30ft. Australia. SYN. Fabricia laevigata. (B. M. 1304.) L. lanigerum (wool-bearing). fl. white; calyces very villous, from spreading pili. Summer. l. oblong or oval, mucronate, pubescent on both surfaces, or only beneath. h. 3ft. Van Diemen's Land and Australia, 1774. L. myrtifolium (Myrtus-leaved). fl. rather small, all, or nearly all, solitary, sessile and axillary. l. usually small, obovate or oblong, flat or concave, nerveless, or one or three-nerved. h. 8ft. to 10ft. Australia. L. scoparium (Broom-like). fl. reddish-lilac; calyces glabrous Summer. l. ovate, mucronate. h. 4ft. to 6ft. New Zealand, 1772 and 1876. The leaves of this species are used as tea. There is a variety of this, grandiflorum, figured in B. M. 3419.

L. s. juniperinum (juniper-like). A narrow-leaved form, agreeing with the type, except in the foliage.