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Myrtaceae
Melaleuca Flower
Melaleuca alternifolia
Purification and healing.
- Family
- Myrtaceae
- Genus
- Melaleuca
- Native to
- Australia, New South Wales
- Bloom season
- Spring, Summer
- Type
- tree
- Height
- 15-25 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- moist, well-drained, sandy
- Water
- moderate
- Hardiness
- 9-11
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- This is the source of tea tree oil, one of the most commercially important essential oils, valued for its antimicrobial properties.
- Aboriginal Bundjalung people of New South Wales have used crushed melaleuca leaves as medicine for thousands of years.
- The bottlebrush-shaped flowers are made of bundles of stamens rather than showy petals, giving them a distinctive spiky appearance.
- The papery, peeling bark comes in multiple layers and was traditionally used by Indigenous Australians for shelter, wrapping food, and wound dressings.
- Australia produces over 700 tonnes of tea tree oil annually, mostly from melaleuca plantations in northern New South Wales.
Color meanings
0
purification
1
healing
2
cleanliness
3
renewal