The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Callistemon
Callistemon is a genus of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae, first described as a genus in 1814. The entire genus is endemic to Australia but widely cultivated in many other regions and naturalised in scattered locations. Their status as a separate taxon is in doubt, some authorities accepting that the difference between callistemons and melaleucas is not sufficient for them to be grouped in a separate genus.
Not a lot of care is required. Only moderate watering is needed and they do best in deep, lighter soil. It is recommended to cut the flowers off as they wilt and cut the whole tree back every few years. When cutting back, a third should be cut at most. They do best in milder climates, since heavy frost can be damaging to them.
Many commercial nurseries continue to use the name ‘’Callistemon’’. These species can be propagated either by cuttings (some species more easily than others), or from the seeds. Flowering is normally in spring and early summer (October–December), but conditions may cause flowering at other times of the year. The obvious parts of the flower masses are stamens, with the pollen at the tip of the filament; the petals are inconspicuous (see picture). Flower heads vary in colour with species; most are red, but some are yellow, green, orange, pink or white. Each flower head produces a profusion of triple-celled seed capsules around a stem (see picture) which remain on the plant with the seeds enclosed until stimulated to open when the plant dies or fire causes the release of the seeds. A few species release the seeds annually.
Melaleuca comboynensis · Callistemon kenmorrisonii · Melaleuca linearifolia · Melaleuca pearsonii · Melaleuca pityoides · Melaleuca orophila · Prickly Bottlebrush · Melaleuca buseana · Melaleuca flammea · Melaleuca flavovirens · Melaleuca formosa · Melaleuca hemisticta
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Callistemon by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
