The Lemon Myrtle Story

Experience the fragrance of the rainforest

Amidst the growing awareness of the value of Australian native rainforest plants, Lemon Myrtle stands out for the rarity of its fresh fragrance, and its medicinal and germicidal properties.

The existence of the Lemon Myrtle tree was known as far back as 1853, when it was given the botanical name Backhousia Citriodora after the English botanist, James Backhouse. The high citral content of the oil extracted from the leaf - 90% to 97% - was ascertained some 100 years ago, but it is only now that its commercial potential is being realised.

The essential oil distilled from the leaf has strong anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. The Rideal-Walker test assesses the anti-microbial activity of a plant by examining the phenol co-efficient of a number of essential oil components such as citral, using bacteria salmonella typhii as a test organism. The test (in which the higher scores are best) awards Lemon Myrtle oil a co-efficient rating of 16, Tea tree a score of 11, while Eucalyptus citriodora scores 8.

Further research at Charles Sturt University, and as reported on Burkes Backyard (April 2000), found that Lemon Myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) has very good antibacterial and antifungal activity. In fact, studies suggest that backhousia oil has better anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties than the better-known Tea tree (Melaleuca alternantheria).