VOLATILE OIL OF MELALEUCA. 
247 
ciles the two first, and this is the one confirmed by the experi- 
ments of the author. In fact the distillation of the leaves of 
Melaleuca hypericifolia and splendens, cultivated success- 
fully in the botanic garden of lena, afforded him an oil exactly 
like that of the shops as to smell and taste, of a green colour, 
but paler than that found in commerce. He thinks, then, 
that the natural pale green colour of this oil can only acquire 
the intensity of the green colour of the commercial article, 
by the presence of copper, which he has detected in the 
latter.* 
M. Stickel terminates his notice by the following reflec- 
tions: — 
1. Most probably in the islands of the Indian Archipelago' 
where cajeput oil is prepared upon a large scale, the Mela- 
leuca leucadendron and cajeputi, or according to the latest 
researches, the Melaleuca trinervis, (Hamilton,) are not only 
employed, but also many other species appertaining to the 
genus Melaleuca, since the M. hypericifolia and splendens 
furnished to him an oil, which — as regards smell and taste — 
does not differ from the officinal cajeput oil. 
2. The leaves of the species of Melaleuca are the parts of 
the plants most rich in essential oil. The stems, on the con- 
trary, are entirely insipid, while the seeds have a camphora- 
ceous and burning taste. 
3. With time, the green colour of the oil of the species of 
Melaleuca becomes yellow. One year was sufficient to pro- 
duce this change in that in the possession of the author. 
4. Perhaps it might be advantageous to cultivate these plants 
for medical purposes, in the temperate countries of Europe, 
where the temperature does not fall below + 3° to 4° Reau- 
mur (a temperature in which the plants thrive well in the 
open ground.) 
Jinnalen der Pharm. and Journ. de Pharm. 
♦ These results are perfectly in accordance with those obtained by 
M. Guiboiirt, and which are slated in his Histoire abregec des Drogius 
Simples, 
