Photo: Murray Fagg, CC BY 3.0 au (via Wikimedia Commons)
Blue Mallee Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus polybractea
Also known as Blue Mallee, Eucalyptus Oil Mallee
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Long before it was bottled and sold, Blue Mallee's narrow, silvery leaves were crushed and steeped by Aboriginal Australians and later by colonial settlers to help clear a stuffy chest and take the edge off a cold. Because this particular mallee carries an unusually high concentration of aromatic cineol oil in its leaves, it became one of the favored species when Australia's eucalyptus oil industry took root in the mallee country during the late 1800s. Bushmen tucked the crushed leaves into their swags for a whiff of relief, and the household vapor rubs still found in medicine cabinets today trace their lineage straight back to this modest, fragrant little tree.
How to grow & use it
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“For the deep chest cold that needs a good clearing out.”
Blue Mallee's leaves can hold up to 85 percent cineole, among the highest concentration of any eucalyptus species, which is exactly why this humble, low-growing mallee, rather than one of Australia's towering gum trees, became the backbone of the country's eucalyptus oil industry.
Eucalyptus essential oil is dangerous if swallowed undiluted, even a small amount has caused serious poisoning in children, so keep it stored well out of reach and never take it internally. It should also be avoided by anyone with a seizure disorder.