Tea Tree

Tea tree or Ti-tree is a popular name that has been applied to a number of different, unrelated plants:

  • Camellia sinensis (aka Thea sinensis), from which black, green, oolong and white tea are all obtained.
  • Melaleuca alternifolia from which tea tree oil is obtained, in the family Myrtaceae.
  • Leptospermum, also in the family Myrtaceae; notably
    • Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka) in New Zealand and southeast Australia.
    • Leptospermum laevigatum, known as the Coastal Tea Tree and the Australian Tea Tree
  • Kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) also in New Zealand.
  • Boxthorn or Lycium in the family Solanaceae, notably
    • Duke of Argyll's Tea Tree (Lycium barbarum), also known as Wolfberry or Matrimony Vine.
  • Ti (plant), Cordyline fruticosa, in the family Laxmanniaceae, formerly treated in the family Agavaceae.

Also:

  • Tea Tree, Tasmania is a locality south of Hobart.
  • Ti Tree, Northern Territory is a small town.


Famous quotes containing the words tea and/or tree:

    “When the tea is brought at five o’clock,
    And all the neat curtains are drawn with care,
    The little black cat with bright green eyes
    Is suddenly purring there.”
    —Harold Monro (1879–1932)

    “But when the bowels of the earth were sought,
    And men her golden entrails did espy,
    This mischief then into the world was brought,
    This framed the mint which coined our misery.
    ...
    And thus began th’exordium of our woes,
    The fatal dumb-show of our misery;
    Here sprang the tree on which our mischief grows,
    The dreary subject of world’s tragedy.”
    —Michael Drayton (1563–1631)