Commemorating Charles Cardale Babington (1808–95), Professor of Botany, University of Cambridge, UK.

Hairless shrubs with prominent stem flanges. Leaves opposite, margins entire, finely round-toothed or lobed. Flower clusters axillary, solitary or 3-7 on a common stalk. Flowers 5-parted. Sepals mostly compound. Petals white. Stamens 3-15, free, shorter than the petals, usually 1 opposite each sepal and shorter that the rest, which are scattered. Filaments with an elbow; anthers rigid on filaments and opening by pores or small slits. Ovary 3-chambered with 4-18 ovules per chamber. Fruit a woody capsule with persistent sepals.

A genus reinstated in 1997 for many species formerly in Baeckea, which now contains only species with 2-chambered ovaries.

16 species from Malesia, New Caledonia and E Australia.

Seed or cuttings.

Closely allied to Baeckea but with ovary of 3 chambers; anthers attached at the base and opening by pores or small slits; sepals mostly compound. B. crenulata (F.Muell.) A.R. Bean from Mt Buffalo National Park in Vic has finely round-toothed leaves and white flowers, while B. densifolia (Sm.) F. Muell. from Qld and NSW has linear, cylindrical leaves and white flowers.

Bean (1997b, 1999).

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Myrtaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.