Photo: Bidgee, CC BY 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Lemon Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus citriodora
Also known as Lemon-Scented Gum, Lemon Gum, Corymbia citriodora, Blue Spotted Gum
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Long before it traveled the world, lemon eucalyptus grew wild along the ridges and river flats of coastal Queensland, where its narrow, lemon-scented leaves were gathered by Aboriginal communities and used in steam and smoke for coughs, colds, and general malaise. Colonial settlers and later herbalists prized it for the same clean, penetrating scent, burning the leaves or steeping them for vapor to ease a stuffy head. In the twentieth century, the oil distilled from its leaves found a second life as the source of one of the few plant-derived insect repellents ever recognized as genuinely effective, carrying the tree's reputation from the sickroom to the campsite.
How to grow & use it
✦The full apothecary for Lemon Eucalyptus
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- ✦Remedies & preparations
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- ✦Peppermint
- ✦Thyme
- ✦Lemon Balm
- ✦Eucalyptus globulus
- ✦Lemongrass
“For the moment your head feels like a closed room and you need a window thrown open, sharp, lemony, and clear.”
The compound PMD, derived from lemon eucalyptus oil, is one of the only plant-based insect repellents ever registered by the U.S. EPA and endorsed by the CDC as offering protection comparable to DEET.
Eucalyptus oil is toxic if swallowed and can be dangerous to young children even in small amounts, so it's never taken internally. The oil and strong vapors aren't recommended for infants or young children since they can trigger breathing difficulty. Always dilute well before topical use and keep it away from the eyes.