Tea Tree

Tea tree is a shrub or small tree of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, native to Australia. Wikipedia says it was described in 1905 and that traditional medicine used the oil from crushed leaves, breathed in for coughs and colds, and the leaves on wounds. Kynes gives it the element earth and the powers emotions, healing, protection and purification. She has the oil diffused for healing and to purify a ritual space, dried leaves used in protection spells, and the oil rubbed on an amulet. She adds that the bark fibres served for burial shrouds and that Captain Cook named it. Kynes advises that tea tree should not be ingested, and Wikipedia says the oil is toxic if ingested, with serious side effects including coma. Both are set out in the safety notes.