Cajeput oil is produced by steam distillation of fresh leaves and twigs of the cajeput tree (Melaleuca leucadendra) and the paperbark tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia). Don’t confuse cajeput oil with tea tree oil (Melaleuca alternifolia) or niauli oil (Melaleuca viridiflora).

Cajeput oil is used to treat colds, headaches, toothache, and tumors; to loosen phlegm so it can be coughed up (as an expectorant); and as a tonic.

Some people apply cajeput oil to the skin for mites (scabies) and a fungal infection of the skin (tinea versicolor).

Cajeput oil is also used either alone or in combination with other ingredients in commercially available antiseptic lotions to treat joint pain (rheumatism) and other pains.

Some people inhale cajeput oil as an expectorant.

In dentistry, cajeput oil is used to relieve gum pain after a tooth is removed or lost.

In food and beverages, cajeput oil is used as a flavoring in very small amounts.