Melaleuca. Cajuputi. Melaleuca leucadendron.

Preparations: Oil of Cajuput

Melaleuca (Cajuputi).—Under the names of gomenol and Niaouli oil there has been put upon the market a volatile oil obtained from the leaves of Melaleuca Leucadendron L. and the var. minor Smith, myrtaceous trees growing in upper India, the islands of the Indian Ocean and Australia. Its sp. gr. is 0.922, and its rotatory power plus 0.420. Its odor and taste are said to resemble those of camphor and peppermint. The chief constituent of the oil (66 per cent.) is cineol, and in addition to this is a crystallized terpineol, C₁₀H₁₈O, and the valeric ester of the same. These together make up 30 per cent. additional. (Gildemeister and Hoffman, Aetherische Oele, p. 686.) It has been recommended in the chronic catarrhs of the pulmonary mucous membrane, and especially in whooping cough. It may be given by the mouth or exhibited in the form of intramuscular injections being diluted with from four to ten parts of a sterilized fixed oil to one part of volatile oil. The hypodermic dose of a 10 per cent. solution is two and one-half fluidrachms to one-half fluidounce (9.3-15 mils). The injections should be practised every other day. Gomenol has been used by Brimont (Press Med., 1910, p. 800) as a vermifuge in ankylostomiasis, in doses of five minims (0.3 mil).

The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.