Lophostemon is a genus of 4 species of evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

 tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 in the myrtle family Myrtaceae

Myrtaceae

The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...

. All four species are native to Australia, with one extending to New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

. The genus is a relatively recent creation; all 4 species were previously included in the related genus Tristania

Tristania

Tristania is a monotypic genus, native to New South Wales, Australia, closely related to Cistemon. The genus had a number of species, but some have been reclassified as Lophostemon and Tristaniopsis....

.

The most well-known species, L. confertus is a familiar tree to many people living along the east coast of Australia, where it known colloquially as the brush box. Quite frequently, it has been planted as a street tree, a role it isn't suited for as it grows to 30 metres in height and quite often suffers lopping due to obstructing overhead power lines.

Lophostemon species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including Aenetus ligniveren

Aenetus

Aenetus is a genus of moths of the family Hepialidae. There are 24 described species found in Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand. Most species have green or blue forewings and reddish hindwings but some are predominantly brown or white...

.

Species include:

• Lophostemon confertus
  Lophostemon confertus
  The Brush Box, Lophostemon confertus, is a tree native to Australia, though it can be found in the United States and elsewhere. Quite frequently, it has been planted as a street tree, due to its hearty nature, its disease and pest resilience, high tolerance for smog, drought and poor drainage, as...
  
  (Brush Box, Queensland Box, Brisbane Box)
• Lophostemon grandiflorus (Northern Swamp Box)
• Lophostemon lactifluus
• Lophostemon suaveolens (Swamp Mahogany, Swamp Turpentine, Swamp Box)