Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 358 (1753).

Derivation: After Dr Abraham Baeck, a Swedish naturalist and physician, 1713-1795.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Baeckeas.

Description:
Shrubs 0.1-2.5 m tall, glabrous or rarely sparsely and very shortly puberulent; leaves appressed or spreading, 0.7-8 mm long, semiterete to semi-elliptic in cross section or only slightly thickened and both sides flat, smooth or with prominent to tuberculate oil glands, with or without a fine recurved point.

Flowers 5-merous, axillary, solitary or rarely in 2-flowered dichasia, 3-10 mm across, sessile or pedunculate, the peduncles sometimes articulated; bracteoles 2 or 3 at the base of the flower or at the articulation of the peduncle, persistent or caducous; hypanthium obconical or hemispherical, calyx-lobes deltoid to semi-elliptic; petals white to pink or mauve; stamens 5-21 in 1 row; anthers dorsifixed, opening in parallel slits and filaments straight and connective glands obvious, or anthers opening in divergent slits or pores in divergent grooves and filaments geniculate; ovary 3-5-celled, with 2-15 ovules per cell.

Fruit a capsule, the base and sides fused to the hypanthium; seeds fiat-sided with rounded backs, or reniform.

Distribution:  About 115 species, most restricted to south-eastern and south-western Australia, a few in New Caledonia and New Guinea with 1 species ranging to southern China.

Biology: The articulated peduncle represents a reduced inflorescence in which the solitary pedicel is articulated to a peduncle.

Key to Species:

1. Stamens c. 12 or c. 20, none opposite the centres of the petals; filaments geniculate; connective gland not obvious; anthers opening in divergent slits or pores in divergent grooves
2. Stamens c. 12; leaves linear, with a fine recurved point; oil glands present but not tuberculate	B. behrii 1.
2. Stamens c. 20; leaves linear-oblong, tip recurved but without a fine point; oil glands tuberculate, prominent	B. tuberculata 5.
1. Stamens 5-15, some always opposite the centres of the petals; filaments straight; connective gland obvious; anthers opening in parallel slits
3. Flowers sessile; stamens 15, in groups of 3 opposite the petals	B. ericaea 3.
3. Flowers distinctly pedunculate; stamens 5-12, opposite the petals and sometimes the calyx-lobes
4. Peduncles not articulated; leaves semiterete	B. crassifolia 2.
4. Peduncles articulated, with a pair of bracteoles at the articulation; leaves flat on both sides and only slightly thickened	B. ramosissima 4.

Author: Prepared by M. E. Trudgen