Melaleuca, Tea tree oil.

Date: Thu, 29 Sep 1994 20:16:25 -0700
Sender: Medicinal and Aromatic Plants discussion list <HERB.TREARN.BITNET>
From: Rob Bidleman <robbee.CRL.COM>
Subject: Re: Other Name for Ti Tree Oil

> The name I always heard for Ti Tree Oil is Melaleuca Oil. Whatever you call it, it's marvelous stuff.

** It's not any better than cedar oil or a dozen other arbor oils. It's another 'designer' herb foisted on people as an exotic by profiteers. It's gone by three or four other names in the past ten years and was sold for about $12- a gallon. Now it's put into tiny bottles with 'SouthWest' decor and sold as something besides turpentine which it resembls in action. Marvelous stuff? So is Walnut oil and it's ten times as effective as Tea Tree oil for fungal infections, plus you can get a lifetime supply of it for $30- <about a gallon>. Or St. John's Wort Oil? Now there's an herb you probably crush everytime you go for a stroll in the countryside. Worried about 'spider veins'? St. John's Oil is great for that as well as many other skin injuries. And guess what? It's only about $12- for a half gallon. I could go on but I feel I've made a case for researching your own herbal remedies. If you let marketers package these exotic herbs for exotic ills you'll end up waking up some morning rubbing some odd tasting stuff on your gums and wondering what it is. Money well spent is on ONE book rather than a dozen boxes of the latest foo-foo juice.

Rob