Tea Tree - a Shared Common Name

In the world of essential oils, common names can lead to confusion – and tea tree is definitely no exception.

The mainstream essential oil the world knows as “Tea Tree Oil”, is derived from the species Melaleuca alternifolia. But in fact, even this needs further clarification. 

Tea Tree Oil, amongst the five most commonly used essential oils in the world, is defined by the ISO standard 4730:2017 as “Essential oil of Melaleuca, terpinene-4-ol type (Tea Tree oil)”.

This title is specifically given because the species Melaleuca alternifolia is comprised of six different chemotypes, each with their own very distinct chemical composition (Southwell, et al, 2017, “Monoterpene chiral ratios: Chemotype diversity and interspecific commonality in Melaleuca alternifolia and M. linariifolia”, Ind Crop Prod, 109:850-856).

Only the Terpinen-4-ol type is acceptable as Tea Tree Oil. 

The Australian National Herbarium notes the term “Tea Tree” is the common name given by early English settlers to Australia who would soak the leaves of several different species in boiling water to make a tea substitute. (Source: Australian National Botanic Gardens, 2023) 

In fact, the name Tea Tree is not even the exclusive domain of Australia.

Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)

Lemon Scented Tea Tree (Leptospermum petersonii) 

Lavender Tea Tree (Melaleuca ericifolia)

Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium)

Melaleuca Cajaputi, CC Attribution ( CC BY 4.0).  rawpixel.com.

“Tea Tree” is also the common name in New Zealand for Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium), and also used by Indonesians for Melaleuca cajaputi, of which the essential oil Cajaput composition varies dramatically from that of the well-recognized Tea Tree Oil (M. alternifolia). 

The below table provides an example of the differing major chemical components of 5 essential oils which use the term “Tea Tree” in their common name. 

Thus, it is important to specify the botanic name of the plant from which the essential oil is derived (and sometimes even the chemotype), rather than relying on the common name.