Tea tree oil, or melaleuca oil, is a pale yellow colour to nearly clear essential oil

Essential oil

An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils or aetherolea, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove...

 with a fresh camphor

Camphor

Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...

aceous odor

Odor

An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also commonly called scents, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors...

. It is taken from the leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 of the Melaleuca alternifolia

Melaleuca alternifolia

Melaleuca alternifolia, commonly known as Narrow-leaved Paperbark, Narrow-leaved Tea-tree, Narrow-leaved Ti-tree, or Snow-in-summer, is a species of tree or tall shrub in the plant genus Melaleuca. Native to Australia, it occurs on the north coast and adjacent ranges of New South Wales...

, which is native to the northeast coast of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Tea tree oil should not be confused with tea oil

Tea oil

Tea seed oil is an edible, pale amber-green fixed oil with a sweet, herbal aroma. It is cold-pressed mainly from the seeds of Camellia oleifera but also from Camellia sinensis or Camellia japonica....

, the sweet seasoning and cooking oil from pressed seeds of the tea plant Camellia sinensis

Camellia sinensis

Camellia sinensis is the species of plant whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce Chinese tea. It is of the genus Camellia , a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. White tea, green tea, oolong, pu-erh tea and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed...

(beverage tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

), or the tea oil plant Camellia oleifera

Camellia oleifera

Camellia oleifera, which originated in China, is notable as an important source of edible oil obtained from its seeds...

.
The indigenous

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 Bundjalung people of eastern Australia use “tea trees” as a traditional medicine

Traditional medicine

Traditional medicine comprises unscientific knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine...

 by inhaling the oils from the crushed leaves to treat coughs and colds.