Tea Tree Oil, Optical Rotation : +8.8 @72 °F

It is a small tree from New South Wales in Australia, similar to Cypress, with needle-like leaves and heads of sessile yellow or purplish flowers and grows to about 7 meters (20 feet) high and thrives in marshy areas, though it is now cultivated in plantations. It has a light spicy, rather pungent smell and is very pale in color with a watery viscosity. Tea tree oil is extracted from Melaleuca alternifolia of the Myrtaceae family and is also known as ti-tree, ti-trol and melasol. It is extracted from the leaves and twigs by steam distillation and the yield is about 1.8%.