2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Fine seed, or Leptospermum (Latin Leptospermum) - a genus of flowering melliferous plants of the Myrtaceae family (lat. Myrtaceae). The genus is represented in nature by shrubs and small trees growing in Australia, New Zealand and the countries of Southeast Asia, most often on poorly nutritious, moist soils. Plants are commonly known as "tea trees", although some species of another genus are also called so. This name comes from the practice of the first settlers in Australia, who brewed the leaves of plants of some species of this genus with boiling water to make herbal tea.
What's in your name
The Latin name of the genus "Leptospermum" is based on two Greek words: "leptos" and "spermum", which are translated into Russian by the words: "thin" and "seed". The reason for the name was the appearance of the seeds of the plants of the genus.
Description
The first description of the plants of the genus was made in 1776 by German botanists, father and son, the Forsters, but an unambiguous identification of individual species of the genus occurred only in 1979. In general, many species are very similar that even botanists sometimes find it difficult to distinguish them from each other.
Representatives of the genus Leptospermum come in a variety of sizes, from branched, lush shrubs to small trees covered with papery, scaly, or fibrous bark. Depending on the type of plant, the height can vary from one to twenty meters.
The relatively small leaves are arranged alternately on the stem. They have a tough leaf plate that, when crushed, exudes a pleasant aroma. The leaves have stipules. The edge of the leaf plate is serrated.
Single or grouped flowers are equipped with bracts and sepals, which in most species fall off (fall off) when the petals open. Leptospermum have five prominent diverging petals of white, pink, or red, alternating with five groups of stamens, which are generally shorter than the petals.
The fruit is a woody boll that opens at the top to give freedom to light seeds. Although, in some species, the capsule retains seeds inside itself until part or all of the plant dies.
Representatives of the genus Leptospermum are distinguished by the presence of essential oils in all parts of the plant.
Varieties
Today the genus has eighty-seven plant species, including:
* Fine-seed myrtle (Latin Leptospermum myrsinoides)
* Large-leaved fine seed (Latin Leptospermum grandifolium)
* Large-flowered fine-seeded plant (Latin Leptospermum grandiflorum)
* Three-veined fine-seeded plant (Latin Leptospermum trinervium)
* A fine-seeded plant (Latin Leptospermum spectabile).
Usage
Quite decorative leaves and spectacular inflorescences of plants of the genus Leptospermum find admirers among gardeners and florists. In areas with a temperate climate, plants of the genus are not able to grow in open ground, but they are perfectly settled in greenhouses and as a houseplant.
When the Europeans began to slowly settle in a distant continent, they used the leaves of certain plant species of the genus Leptospermum as tea leaves, simultaneously achieving a double effect: they received a pleasant drink, plus, strengthened their immunity due to the healing abilities of plants.
The healing abilities of plants of the genus
The nectar of flowers is collected by bees, turning it into honey with a lemon scent, which has antibacterial and antimicrobial activity.
Since all parts of the plants of the genus contain essential oils that have medicinal properties, people have learned to extract such oils, putting them at their service.
Like eucalyptus oil, a close relative of Leptospermum, essential oils of the latter are distinguished by their ability to fight inflammatory pathogens in the human body. They have a beneficial effect on human skin, helping it maintain its elasticity and youth longer.
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