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Callistemon (Greek, kallos, beauty; stemon, a stamen; in most of the species the stamens are of a beautiful scarlet or crimson color). Myrtaceae. Bottle- Brush. Ornamental shrubs, thriving without irrigation in California, where they are hardy and much used; also planted to some extent elsewhere in warm climates and occasionally seen under glass.
Leaves alternate, entire, lanceolate or linear, mostly with oil- or resin-dots and fragrant when crushed: fls. in dense cylindric spikes, at first terminal but the axis growing out as a leafy shoot; calyx-teeth 5; petals 5, deciduous; stamens indefinite in number, not united; anthers versatile, the cells parallel and bursting longitudinally; ovary inferior, maturing into a caps. which persists for several years.—About 25 species, natives of Austral., where they inhabit arid districts. Distinguished from Melaleuca only by the stamens, which in that genus are united into bundles. Hall, Univ. Calif. Pub. Bot. 4:22.
The showy flower-clusters, resembling bottle- brushes in shape, and so giving the common name to the genus, are highly colored and render these shrubs very ornamental. The quantity of bloom may be much increased by judicious autumn pruning. The various species are recommended for parks, depot-grounds, school - yards, and also for smaller yards if kept well pruned. Hardy only in warm-temperate districts but enduring temperatures less than 20° F.
Propagation from seeds is satisfactory: these are gathered during the summer months by allowing the capsules to open in boxes or on sheets of paper kept in a warm place; sow in early spring in finely sifted mixture of sand, leaf-mold, and loam, and cover very lightly; the ordinary cool greenhouse is warm enough. Some nurserymen state that plants from cuttings of ripened wood or of wood which is getting firm at the base will blossom earlier than seedlings; others find no advantage in this method. Although adapted to nearly every variety of soil, these plants make but slow growth in heavy clay.
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