ABSTRACT
When Captain James Cook dropped anchor off the coast of New South Wales in 1770, some of his sailors went ashore and prepared an aromatic tea from the leaves of a tree growing in the swampy lowlands there. For that reason, the tree became known as the tea tree, not to be confused with the common tea plant, which yields both black and green tea. Subsequently, it was learned that the leaves of the tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden and Betche) Cheel of the family Myrtaceae, had been long used by the aboriginals as a local antiseptic. Settlers in that area gradually began to use the leaves and the volatile oil obtained from them for the treatment of cuts, abrasions, burns, insect bites, athlete's foot, and similar conditions.1 The oil has since become a very popular home remedy there, and its use is now spreading throughout the world.
