Tea Tree Products
This useful oil has a very short European history but in the case of the Bundjalung people of eastern Australia it has always been a part of their daily lives. Indigo Herbs brings you this amazing oil in a completely unadulterated form that carry’s all the original properties that made it famous. Versatility coupled with a strong pleasant aroma have made Tea Tree oil very popular and a household name all over the world.
When H.M.S. Endeavour arrived at Botany Bay in Australia in 1770 one of the first things that struck Captain Cook and his fellow crew members was all the strange creatures and plants. One of these strange trees was the (what would later be known as) Melaleuca alternifolia or Tea Tree. The Bundjalung tribe taught Captain Cook how to use the leaves to make into a tea, hence the name. There is also a place called Bungawalbin Creek in New South Wales which was attributed with having healing waters by the Bundjalung people because of the amount of Tea Tree leaves that fell into its waters. The botanist Joseph Banks who travelled with Captain Cook took samples of the tree back to England and 150 years later the oil became very popular for skin complaints. During the Second World War Tea Tree was issued to Australian soldiers to combat foot fungus and proved to be more effective and less harmful than carbolic acid solutions. From this period Tea Tree Oil has become one of the best natural anti-fungal/bacterial treatments known and has spread far and wide all over the globe.
Tea Tree is a very beautiful tree when flowering, it throws out fluffy cob like bunches of white blooms that can resemble many tiny white cobwebs of candyfloss. The tree can be a very small shrubby like bush or grow into quite tall trees. Leaves are very thin, long and aromatic and can result in long flowing branching similar to a willow. In Australia they have bred several different varieties of Tea Tree that yield consistent amounts of leaves to keep up with the demand for this oil.
