<P> The name tea tree is used for several plants, mostly from Australia and New Zealand, from the family Myrtaceae, related to the myrtle . The use of the name probably originated from Captain James Cook's description of one of these shrubs that he used to make an infusion to drink in place of tea . </P> <P> The commercial tea tree oil industry originated in the 1920s when Arthur Penfold, an Australian, investigated the business potential of a number of native extracted oils; he reported that tea tree oil had promise, as it exhibited antiseptic properties . </P> <P> Tea tree oil was first extracted from Melaleuca alternifolia in Australia, and this species remains the most important commercially . In the 1970s and 1980s, commercial plantations began to produce large quantities of tea tree oil from Melaleuca alternifolia . Many of these plantations are located in New South Wales . Since the 1970s and 80s, the industry has expanded to include several other species for their extracted oil: Melaleuca armillaris and Melaleuca styphelioides in Tunisia and Egypt; Melaleuca leucadendra in Egypt, Malaysia and Vietnam; Melaleuca acuminata in Tunisia; Melaleuca ericifolia in Egypt; and Melaleuca quinquenervia in the United States . Similar oils can also be produced by water distillation from Melaleuca linariifolia and Melaleuca dissitiflora . Whereas the availability and nonproprietary nature of tea tree oil would make it--if proved effective--particularly well - suited to a disease like scabies that affects poor people disproportionately, those same characteristics diminish corporate interest in its development and validation . </P> <P> In dogs and cats, death or transient signs of toxicity (lasting 2 to 3 days), such as depression, weakness, incoordination and muscle tremors, have been reported after external application at high doses . </P>

What we call tea tree oil in hindi