Backhousia citriodora

A number of papers have demonstrated the in vitro effects of various essential oils against meth-icillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), for example, Lippia origanoides (Dos Santos et al, 2004), Backhousia citriodora (Hayes and Markovic, 2002), M. piperita, M. arvensis and Mentha spicata (Imai et al., 2001), and M. alternifolia (Carson et al., 1995). There have been no trials involving the use of essential oils to combat active MRSA infections, although there have been two studies involving the use of tea tree oil as a topical decolonization agent for MRSA carriers. 

Hayes, A. J., Markovic, B. 2002. Toxicity of Australian essential oil Backhousia citriodora (Lemon myrtle). Part 1. Antimicrobial activity and in vitro cytotoxicity. 40 535-543. 

Backhousia citriodora is a smaU tree indigenous to Queensland. The leaves yield about 0 7 per cent, of essential oil which resembles lemon-grass oil closely in odour. The oil has the following characters —... 

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