A plant known throughout Australia as
Captain Cook's tea tree, from the circumstance that, on the first
landing of this navigator in that country, he employed a decoction
of the leaves of this plant as a corrective to the effects of
scurvy among his
crew, and this proved an efficient medicine.
Thickets of this plant, along the swampy margin of streams, are
known as Tea-tree scrubs. It is also known among the natives as
the Manuka plant. The wood is hard and heavy, and was formerly
used for making sharp-pointed spears. It belongs to the myrtle
family of plants.
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Next: Licuala Acutifida
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