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Botanical Classifications
Myrtaceae Juss.
The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five. One notable character of the family is that the phloem is located on both sides of the xylem, not just outside as in most other plants. The leaves are evergreen, alternate to mostly opposite, simple, and usually with an entire (not toothed) margin. The flowers have a base number of five petals, though in several genera the petals are minute or absent. The stamens are usually very conspicuous, brightly coloured and numerous.
The family Myrtaceae has at least 3000 species distributed in 130-150 genera. They have a wide distribution in tropical and warm-temperate regions of the world, and are typically common in many of the world's biodiversity hotspots. Genera with capsular fruits such as Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora, Leptospermum, Melaleuca, Metrosideros are restricted to the Old World, apart from the monotypic genus Tepualia in Chile. Genera with fleshy fruits have their greatest concentrations in eastern Australia and Malesia (the Australasia ecozone) and the Neotropics. Eucalyptus is a dominant, nearly ubiquitous genus in the more mesic parts of Australia and extends north sporadically to the Philippines. Eucalyptus regnans is the tallest flowering plant in the world. Other important Australian genera are Callistemon (bottlebrushes), Syzygium, and Melaleuca (paperbarks).
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Major essential oil producing plants in the Myrtaceae family. |
| Corymbia citriodora |
Eucalypus Lemon, Eucalyptus citriodora Lemon scented gum, citron scented gum, scented gum tree, spotted gum, boabo. |
| Eucalyptus dives |
Eucalyptus Peppermint, Broad-leaf peppermint, blue peppermint, menthol-scented gum |
| Eucalyptus globulus |
Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus 80/85, blue gum, gum tree, southern blue gum, Tasmanian blue gum, fever tree, stringy bark. |
| Eucalyptus radiata |
Eucalyptus radiata, Narrow-leaved peppermint gum, eucalyptus peppermint and Eucalyptus australiana. |
| Eugenia caryophyllata |
Clove Bud, Clove Leaf, Clove Stem, Eugenia aromaticum, Eugenia caryophyllus, Syzgium aromaticum. |
| Leptospermum scoparium |
Manuka, |
| Melaleuca alternifolia |
Tea Tree, Ti-tree, ti-troll, paperbark tree, melasol. |
| Melaleuca cajeputi |
Cajeput, Melaleuca minor, Melaleuca quinquenervia, cajuput, cajeputi, white tea tree, white wood, swamp tea tree, punk tree, paperbark tree. |
| Melaleuca viridiflora |
Niaouli, Broad-leaved tea-tree, gomenol. |
| Myrtus communis |
Myrtle, Corsican pepper |
| Pimenta dioica |
Allspice Berry, Allspice Leaf, Pimenta officinalis, pimento, pimenta, Jamaica pepper. |
| Pimento racemosa |
Bay Leaf, Pimenta acris, Myrcia acris, Bay, bay rum, pimento, wild cinnamon, bayberry, west indian bay, myrcia, bay leaf. |
| Taxandria fragrans |
Fragonia, Agonis fragrans , |
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