Melaleuca cajuputi
| Cajuput | |
|---|---|
 |
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| M. cajuputi flowers and leaves | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Melaleuca |
| Species: | M. cajuputi |
| Binomial name | |
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Melaleuca cajuputi Powell |
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Melaleuca cajuputi, commonly known as cajuput or white samet is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is widespread in Australia, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Torres Strait islands. It is a medium to tall tree with papery bark, silvery new growth and white or greenish flower spikes. It has important uses as a source of cajuput oil.
Melaleuca cajuputi is usually a medium to large tree, often growing to 35 metres (100 ft) and sometimes to 46 metres (200 ft) with grey, brownish or whitish papery bark. The new growth is silky-hairy, becoming glabrous as it matures. The leaves are arranged alternately 40–140 millimetres (2–6 in) long and 7.5–60 millimetres (0.3–2 in) wide, tapering at both ends. The flower are white, cream or greenish-yellow mostly in dense spikes at the ends of the branches which continue to grow after flowering but also often in the axils of the upper leaves. The spikes contain 8 to 20 groups of flowers, each group with three flowers. The stamens are grouped in five bundles around the flower, each bundle containing 6 to 18 stamens. Timing of flowering varies with subspecies. The fruits are woody, cup-shaped capsules clustered loosely along the branches, each fruit 2–2.8 millimetres (0.08–0.1 in) long.
Melaleuca cajuputi was first formally described in 1809 by Thomas Powell in Pharmacopoeia of the Royal College of Physicians of London with a reference to an earlier (1747) description by Rumphius in Herbarium Amboinense. The specific epithet (cajuputi) is "probably a corruption of the Indonesian name for the plant, kayu putih".
There are 3 subspecies:
Melaleuca cajuputi Powell subsp. cajuputi occurs in the Dampier Peninsula, Calder River, Fitzroy Crossing district in the Central Kimberley biogeographic zone in Western Australia, the northern part of the Northern Territory, and East Timor. It grows in woodland, vine forest, gallery forest and savannah forest, on clayey and peaty loam.
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