Melaleuca

About 170-200 species, including:

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Melaleuca acuminata

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Melaleuca alternifolia

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Melaleuca armillaris

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Melaleuca biconvexa

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Melaleuca cajuputi

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Melaleuca coccinea

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Melaleuca cordata

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Melaleuca cuticularis

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Melaleuca decora

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Melaleuca decussata

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Melaleuca densa

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Melaleuca diosmifolia

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Melaleuca elliptica

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Melaleuca ericifolia

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Melaleuca fulgens

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Melaleuca gibbosa

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Melaleuca glaberrima

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Melaleuca huegelii

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Melaleuca hypericifolia

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Melaleuca incana

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Melaleuca lanceolata

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Melaleuca lateritia

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Melaleuca laxiflora

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Melaleuca leucadendra

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Melaleuca linariifolia

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Melaleuca macronychia

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Melaleuca microphylla

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Melaleuca nesophila

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Melaleuca nodosa

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Melaleuca preissiana

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Melaleuca quinquenervia

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Melaleuca radula

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Melaleuca spathulata

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Melaleuca squamea

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Melaleuca squarrosa

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Melaleuca styphelioides

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Melaleuca tenella

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Melaleuca teretifolia

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Melaleuca thymifolia

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Melaleuca viridiflora

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Melaleuca wilsonii

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The plant genus Melaleuca is part of the myrtle family Myrtaceae and presently contains about 170 species. However most experts believe that the addition of presently unnamed or incorrectly named species will result in a total of more than 200 members. Most are endemic to Australia but examples occur in the wild as far afield as Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and even Malaysia.

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They are shrubs and trees growing (depending on species) to 2-30 m tall, with flaky, exfoliating bark. The leaves are evergreen, alternately arranged, ovate to lanceolate, 1-25 cm long and 0.5-7 cm broad, with an entire margin, dark green to grey-green in colour. The flowers are produced in dense clusters along the stems, each flower with fine small petals and a tight bundle of stamens; flower colour varies from white to pink, red, pale yellow or greenish. The fruit is a small capsule containing numerous minute seeds.

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The melaleucas are closely related to callistemons: the main difference between the genera is that the stamens are generally free in Callistemon but grouped into bundles in Melaleuca.

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In the wild, melaleucas are generally found in open forest, woodland or shrubland, particularly along watercourses and the edges of swamps.

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Common names of many Australasian genera are inaccurate and unhelpful. In consequence, the best-accepted common name for Melaleuca is simply melaleuca; however most of the larger species are also known as paperbarks, and the smaller types as honey myrtles. Some melaleucas are used in the manufacture of an essential oil called tea tree oil and called "tea trees", which is confusing, as "tea tree" has also been used for several other plants, including Leptospermum, a related and superficially similar-looking genus.

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In Australia, Melaleuca species are sometimes used as food plants by the larvae of hepialid moths of the genus Aenetus. These burrow horizontally into the trunk then vertically down.

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Scientific studies have shown that tea tree oil made from Melaleuca alternifolia is a highly effective topical antibacterial and antifungal, although it may be toxic when ingested internally in large doses or by children. In rare cases, topical products can be absorbed by the skin and result in toxicity.

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Melaleucas are popular garden plants, both in Australia and other tropical areas worldwide. In Hawaii and the Florida everglades, Melaleuca quinquenervia has become a serious invasive weed.

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Species: In biology, the most commonly used definition of species was first coined by Ernst Mayr. Species are "groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups" (however, see other definitions of species below)....

Indonesia: The Republic of Indonesia is located in the Malay Archipelago, the world's largest archipelago, between Indochina and Australia, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world and the fourth most populous overall. It has had free elections since th...

New Guinea: New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC. The name papua has also been long-associated with the island: this is discussed further under Hi...