Baeckea is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family,
Myrtaceae, all but one
endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Baeckea are shrubs or small trees with leaves arranged in opposite pairs, white to deep pink flowers with five
sepals and five petals, and five to fifteen
stamens that are shorter than the petals.
Description
Plants in the genus Baeckea are
glabrous shrubs, sometimes small trees, usually with the leaves arranged in opposite pairs or
decussate. The flowers are usually arranged singly in leaf axils on a
pedicel with two
bracteoles at the base but that sometimes fall off as the flower opens. There are five sepals and five white to deep pink , more or less round petals that are free from each other. Five to fifteen stamens are arranged in a single row and are shorter that the petals and open by parallel slits. The fruit is a
capsule containing many seeds.[2][3][4][5][6]
Taxonomy
The genus Baeckea was first formally described in 1753 by
Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum.[7][8] The genus is named in honor of the Swedish physician Abraham Bäck (or Baeck) (1713–1795).[9][10]
^Linnaeus, Carl (1753).
Species Plantarum. Berlin. p. 358. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
^Genaust, H. (1976). Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen PflanzennamenISBN3-7643-0755-2
^Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 63.
ISBN9780958034180.
^Conti, Elena; Litt, Amy; Wilson, Peter G.; Graham, Shirley A.; Briggs, Barbara G.; Johnson, L. A. S.; Sytsma, Kenneth J. (1997). "Interfamilial Relationships in Myrtales: Molecular Phylogeny and Patterns of Morphological Evolution". Systematic Botany. 22 (4): 629.
doi:
10.2307/2419432.
ISSN0363-6445.
JSTOR2419432.
^
ab"Baeckea". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 8 January 2022.