Indoor plants

Melaleuca

Family Myrtaceae. In the wild the tea tree grows only in a relatively small area in New South Wales (Australia). This is a small tree with narrow, soft leaves and yellow flowers. Nowadays the cultivation and processing of tea trees has become a real industry – about 100 tons of tea tree oil are produced per year, while the actual oil yield is about 1-2% of the weight of the leaves and branches from which this oil is distilled by steam. The obtained oil is used in medicine and aromatherapy.

Australian tea tree - Melaleuca alternifolia - was discovered by Cook in 1770 during his famous voyage on the «Endeavour». Cook and his crew used the fresh leaves simply as a tea, and only later did Europeans learn that the Australian aborigines had for centuries used these leaves to treat headaches, colds and as an insect repellent. They also used its antiseptic properties and treated cuts, wounds, etc., with crushed tea tree leaves.

There is another "tea tree" - the New Zealand one - Leptospermum scoparium. It was also discovered by Captain Cook. About the tea made from this plant he wrote that the drink had a taste with a pleasant bitterness. However, other members of Cook's party said that few returned for a second cup. This is a small shrub (rarely reaching 2 meters in height); the leaves can be of various shapes, with white flowers, sometimes pink and red flowers occur. Like the Australian tea tree, it belongs to the myrtle family and an essential oil is also produced from it, which has many useful properties. New Zealand Maori used it long before Captain Cook's visit.

Tea tree

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