melalucas
Matthew GRAY
In a previous article, jo...@wndrsvr.la.ca.us (johnm) says:
>
>Melaleuca trees are very nice. I looked them up in my poisonous plants
>book and they were not listed. I do not suggest eating one though (I'll
>bet it does not taste very good anyway). I always wonder about poisonous
>plants though,there are so many and they are everywhere. I have had
>dogs,cats ,rabbits,earthworms,fish and I have never seen one eat a
>poisonous plant,flower, fruit,seed ,whatever. Can it be human beings are
>the only ones dumb enough to eat these things. [Stuff deleted]
>
My brother in law is a dermatologist in Hawaii and he has reported
patients with an alergic reaction to Melaleuca resin (I believe). I will
post this to him in case he wishes to comment or correct me.
Melaleuca is the tree which is the sourge of the Everglades in Florida.
It is lierally sucking the wetlands dry and management people there are
working hard to get rid of them with little success. So if Freemont CA is
located anywhere near valuable wetlands that Melaleuca could invade, be
cautious about planting it as an ornamental.
JOHN MATTHEWS
matt...@cc2smtp.emr.ca; af...@freenet.carleton.ca
Melalucas are very nice, one of our best features! Here, unlike the everglades
we are trying to preserve our melalucas (different spp) from the pressures so
prevelant in developing countries. They are important components of a large
number of ecosystems.
Melalucas are closely related to _Eucalyptus_ and _Leptospermum_, both
genera high in volatile oils, and the well known (well, here at least)
Eucalpyt oil comes from the former, while tea tree oil comes from _Melaluca_ spp
and _Leptospermum_ spp. All these oils are TOXIC. In small amounts they are
great for ten million things, just as all essential oils are. But in quantity
they are quite poisonous - NEVER drink straight Euc or tea tree oil.
People can have allergic reactions to these oils, again, frequently when used
in high conc.
They are not 'poisonous' trees as such, unlike Ricinus or Nerum
oleander, but contain toxic oils which are poisinous in large amounts.
I do eat tea tree leaves occassionaly, mainly for the taste. But I
never eat enough to get a big dose of oil. You'll feel your throat rebelling
against you before you can manage to poison yourself on green leaves.
I'll echo John's sentiments re exotics, not just in Florida or Oz,
but everywhere - be careful what you plant: todays garden plant is tomorrow's
environmental weed.
yours,
Matt Gray
mgr...@metz.une.edu.au