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Leptospermum scoparium

Leptospermum scoparium

Overview
Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka
Manuka
Manuka can refer to:*The flowering plant Leptospermum scoparium *Manuka, Australian Capital Territory, a place in Canberra, Australia, named after the plant*Manuka Oval, a stadium in the above territory...

 or Tea tree or just Leptospermum) is a shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 or small tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 native to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...

 and southeast Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...

. It is found throughout New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...

 but is particularly common on the drier east coasts of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

 and the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

, and in Australia in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 ,...

, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...

 and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...

. Manuka (from Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Maori people, where it has is the status of an official language...

 'mānuka') is the name used in New Zealand, and 'tea tree' is a common name in Australia and to a lesser extent also in New Zealand.
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Encyclopedia
Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka
Manuka
Manuka can refer to:*The flowering plant Leptospermum scoparium *Manuka, Australian Capital Territory, a place in Canberra, Australia, named after the plant*Manuka Oval, a stadium in the above territory...

 or Tea tree or just Leptospermum) is a shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 or small tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 native to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...

 and southeast Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...

. It is found throughout New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...

 but is particularly common on the drier east coasts of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

 and the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

, and in Australia in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 ,...

, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...

 and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...

. Manuka (from Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Maori people, where it has is the status of an official language...

 'mānuka') is the name used in New Zealand, and 'tea tree' is a common name in Australia and to a lesser extent also in New Zealand. This name arose because Captain Cook used the leaves to make a 'tea' drink. The common name "Tea Tree" is also shared with the related Melaleuca
Melaleuca
Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. There are well over 200 recognized species, most of which are endemic to Australia. A few species occur in Malesia and 7 species are endemic to New Caledonia....

 tree of Australia suggesting that both were used to make tea by Captain Cook.

Growth


It is a prolific scrub-type tree and is often one of the first species to regenerate on cleared land. It is typically a shrub growing to 2-5 m tall, but can grow into a moderately sized tree, up to 15 m or so in height. It is evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaves all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....

, with dense branching and small leaves
Leaf
In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...

 7-20 mm long and 2-6 mm broad, with a short spine tip. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...

s are white, occasionally pink, 8-15 mm (rarely up to 25 mm) diameter, with five petals. This species is often confused with the closely related species Kānuka - the easiest way to tell the difference between the two species in the field is to feel their foliage - Manuka leaves are prickly while Kanuka leaves are soft. The wood is tough and hard, and was often used for tool handles. Manuka sawdust
Sawdust
Sawdust is composed of fine particles of wood. This material is produced from cutting with a saw, hence its name. It has a variety of practical uses, including serving as a mulch, or as an alternative to clay cat litter, or as a fuel, or for the manufacture of particleboard. Until the advent of...

 imparts a delicious flavour when used for smoking meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, or lungs...

s and fish
Fish
A fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins...

.

Medical and health benefits


Manuka products have high antibacterial potency for a limited spectrum of bacteria and are widely available in New Zealand. Similar properties led the Māori
Māori
The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...

 to use parts of the plant as natural medicine.

Kakariki
Kakariki
The three species of Kākāriki or New Zealand parakeets are the most common species of parakeet in the genus Cyanoramphus, family Psittacidae...

 parakeets (Cyanoramphus) use the leaves and bark of Manuka and Kanuka to rid themselves of parasites. Apart from ingesting the material, they also chew it, mix it with preen gland oil and apply it to their feathers.

Manuka honey
Monofloral honey
Monofloral honey is a type of honey which has a high value in the marketplace because it has a distinctive flavor or other attribute due to its being predominantly from the nectar of one plant species....

, produced when honeybees gather the nectar from its flowers, is distinctively flavoured, darker and richer in taste than clover
Clover
Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on...

 honey and has strong antibacterial and antifungal properties. The finest quality Manuka honey with the most potent antimicrobial properties is produced from hives placed in wild, uncultivated areas with abundant growth of Manuka bushes. However a very limited number of scientific studies have been performed to verify its efficacy.

The University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand has formed the Waikato Honey Research Unit to study the composition of honey and its antimicrobial activity. The Active Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) is the industry association that promotes and standardizes the production of Manuka honey for medical uses. They have created the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) standard which grades honey based on its anti-bacterial strength. In January 2008 Professor Thomas Henle, University of Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 (Germany) identified Methylglyoxal
Methylglyoxal
Methylglyoxal, also called pyruvaldehyde or 2-oxo-propanal is the aldehyde form of pyruvic acid. It has two carbonyl groups, so it is a dicarbonyl compound. Methylglyoxal is both an aldehyde and a ketone.In organisms, methylglyoxal is formed as a side-product of several metabolic pathways...

 as the active compound in Manuka honey. This is now shown on products as MGO Manuka honey. E.g. MGO 100 represents 100mg of Methylglyoxal per kilogram.

External links