Manuka

Leptospermum scoparium Origin: New Zealand Improvement status: Wild Seeds per packet: ~100 BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED Life cycle: Perennial  Manuka, or Broom Teatree, is a practically miraculous plant from New Zealand and southeast Australia famous for its strongly antibiotic (and delicious) honey, but also a wonderful tea alternative, a medicinal plant itself, and source of a useful hardwood for tool handles and smoking food. The name comes from the Maori word for the plant, which is still the common name in New Zealand. Australians are more likely to call it "tea tree," a name which supposedly arose because Captain Cook used the leaves to make a tea. (This is not to be confused with the famous Melaleuca tea-tree, also from Australia, famed for its medicinal oil.) Many people actually prefer the taste of its leaves to common green or black tea. It's also a beautiful plant, with pink-magenta to white flowers that somehow look like a cross between ornamental quince and he