The Latin name
Callistemon comes from the combination of 2
Greek words of 'callis' meaning beauty and 'stemon' meaning stamen, referring to the flowers of the plant. The genus
Callistemon was first formally described in 1814 by
Robert Brown. In his description he noted that the genus includes “those species of
Metrosideros that have inflorescence similar to that of
Melaleuca, and distinct elongated filaments.” and in 1867,
George Bentham brought all the
Metrosideros species into
Melaleuca. Bentham described melaleucas as having stamens united in bundles opposite the (five) petals. In his 1864 description of
Callistemon salignus in
Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae,
Ferdinand von Mueller noted that the difference between the genera was “entirely artificial” (“omnino artificiale"). George Bentham also noted in
Flora Australiensis that
Callistemon “passes gradually into
Melaleuca, with which F. Mueller proposes to unite it.” In 1876,
Henri Ernest Baillon proposed in
Histoire des Plantes that
Callistemon, as well as
Calothamnus and
Lamarchea be merged into
Melaleuca. Nevertheless, most authors had preserved the distinction between the two genera
Callistemon and
Melaleuca until 1998. In that year, in recognition of the fact that the callistemons and melaleucas on
New Caledonia were clearly related,
Lyndley Craven and
J.W. Dawson transferred the callistemons on that island to
Melaleuca, even though some (e.g.
Melaleuca pancheri) do not have stamens fused in 5 groups. in 2006 and 2009 Craven moved all but four callistemons to melaleuca. Those four were
Callistemon forresterae,
Callistemon genofluvialis,
Callistemon kenmorrisonii and
Callistemon nyallingensis which were regarded as being hybrids. The new description of
Melaleuca has been accepted by some herbaria but not all. For example, the Queensland Herbarium accepts
Melaleuca flammea (synonym
Callistemon acuminatus) but the New South Wales Herbarium accepts
Callistemon acuminatus. In 2012, Frank Udovicic and Roger Spencer transferred the newly described species of melaleuca with separate stamens (e.g.
Melaleuca megalongensis and
Melaleuca wimmerensis) to
Callistemon (hence
Callistemon megalongensis and
Callistemon wimmerensis). Their argument is that using the DNA evidence is premature. They further argue that if all the genera
Beaufortia,
Callistemon,
Calothamnus,
Conothamnus,
Eremaea,
Melaleuca,
Phymatocarpus were combined (as Craven has suggested), then there would be no characteristics that would define the group. ==Use in horticulture==