Tea Tree

Montana Public Radio | By Beth Anne Austein

Published August 23, 2014 at 5:00 AM MDT

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Indigenous Australians use the twigs and leaves of the melaleuca (tea tree) medicinally, and science has confirmed the tree's antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. Tea tree oil is used topically to treat a range of skin infections, cuts, burns, insect bites and stings. A 2012 review by the National Institutes of Health found that "a 5% tea tree oil gel appears to be as effective as 5% benzoyl peroxide" for treating mild to moderate acne.

(Podcast: The Plant Detective, 8/23/14)

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Beth Anne Austein

Beth Anne Austein has been spinning tunes on the air (The Folk Show, Dancing With Tradition, Freeforms), as well as recording, editing and mixing audio for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS, since the Clinton Administration. She’s jockeyed faders or "fixed it in post” for The Plant Detective; Listeners Bookstall; Fieldnotes; Musicians Spotlight; The Write Question; Storycorps; Selected Shorts; Bill Raoul’s music series; orchestral and chamber concerts; lecture series; news interviews; and outside producers’ programs about topics ranging from philosophy to ticks.

See stories by Beth Anne Austein