Species
+

Melaleuca cajuputi Powell

Cajuput, Samet, cajaput, cajaput-tree

Climate known 106 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Melaleuca cajuputi, commonly known as cajuput or white samet is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is widespread in Australia, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Torres Strait islands. It is a medium to tall tree with papery bark, silvery new growth and white or greenish flower spikes. It has important uses as a source of cajuput oil.

Text from Wikipedia, “Melaleuca cajuputi”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Melaleuca

Melaleuca is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees. They range in size from small shrubs that rarely grow to more than 1 m high, to trees up to 35 m (115 ft). Their flowers generally occur in groups, forming a "head" or "spike" resembling a brush used for cleaning bottles, containing up to 80 individual flowers.

Text from Wikipedia, “Melaleuca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Myrtaceae
Described by
Powell
Native to
Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand +11
Wild records
1752 in range· 1721 open

At a glance

Warmest month
33°C
Nov, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1461mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jan 325 mm (CHELSA)
Light
31–44DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1461 mm a year, wettest January at 325 mm, driest July at 3 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1134 mm of 1461 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.9 °C against a yearly mean of 27.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1461 mm a year, wettest January at 325 mm, driest July at 3 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1461 mm a year at the habitat, 1134 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 325 mm, driest July at 3 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1094 mm to 2509 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 27, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 19.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 19.1 °C, the absolute minimum 16.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.2 °C in July (across the envelope cells 17.4 °C to 24.2 °C), warmest day 32.6 °C in November (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 29 °C in Jul to 33 °C in Nov; mean night from 20 °C in Jul to 25 °C in Dec. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1461 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 609 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 16.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°35°40°32.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)16.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 31–44RH 55–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 609 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C31 / 29–3331 / 29–3231 / 28–3331 / 28–3331 / 27–3329 / 26–3129 / 25–3130 / 25–3331 / 27–3533 / 28–3733 / 28–3632 / 29–34
Night °C25 / 24–2725 / 24–2625 / 23–2624 / 23–2623 / 21–2521 / 18–2520 / 17–2421 / 18–2423 / 20–2524 / 22–2625 / 24–2725 / 24–27
Rain mm325 / 197–432296 / 194–406275 / 158–343126 / 59–27523 / 11–2134 / 1–1613 / 1–1663 / 1–13510 / 4–16544 / 18–196114 / 57–176238 / 137–318
DLI35 / 33–3934 / 32–3735 / 33–3836 / 31–3833 / 29–3631 / 27–3433 / 28–3538 / 31–3942 / 34–4444 / 34–4643 / 32–4538 / 33–42
RH %65 / 62–6765 / 63–6864 / 61–6760 / 54–6757 / 50–6656 / 47–6655 / 47–6555 / 48–6558 / 51–6659 / 53–6660 / 56–6663 / 60–66

Each figure is the median across the 609 grid cells holding the 1733 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1473:5760 (16.325, 108.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 609 distinct grid cells holding the 1733 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1473:5760 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 16.50_108.125, lapse-corrected -21 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 28 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Sumatera, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia· introduced: China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan, Sri Lanka
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-12.536, 135.031 · in the densest population, 950 records (54% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1752 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1721 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 34 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 19 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1752 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Melaleuca cajuputiMelaleuca cajuputiMelaleuca cajuputiMelaleuca cajuputiMelaleuca cajuputiMelaleuca cajuputiMelaleuca cajuputiMelaleuca cajuputi

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (7).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Melaleuca cajuputi, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Beneficial effect of aluminum on growth of plants adapted to low pH soils
Mitsuru Osaki, Toshihiro Watanabe, Toshiaki Tadano (1997) · Soil Science & Plant Nutrition
Near Infrared Spectroscopy for Cost Effective Screening of Foliar Oil Characteristics in aMelaleuca cajuputiBreeding Population
Laurence R. Schimleck, J. C. Doran, A. Rimbawanto (2003) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Antioxidant, antibacterial activity, and phytochemical characterization of Melaleuca cajuputi extract
Nazeh Al-Abd, Zurainee Mohamed Nor, Marzida Mansor, Fadzly Azhar (2015) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Predicting the Habitat Suitability of Melaleuca cajuputi Based on the MaxEnt Species Distribution Model
Nor Zafirah Ab Lah, Zulkifli Yusop, Mazlan Hashim, Jamilah Mohd Salim (2021) · Forests
Role of exudation of organic acids and phosphate in aluminum tolerance of four tropical woody species
Nga Nguyen, K. Nakabayashi, Julian R. Thompson, Κ. Fujita (2003) · Tree Physiology
Aluminum tolerance and aluminum-induced deposition of callose and lignin in the root tips of Melaleuca and Eucalyptus species
Ko Tahara, Mariko Norisada, Taizo Hogetsu, Katsumi Kojima (2005) · Journal of Forest Research
Evaluation of the Inhibitory Activities of COVID‐19 of Melaleuca cajuputi Oil Using Docking Simulation
Tran Thi Ai My, Huynh Thi Phuong Loan, Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hải, Lê Trung Hiếu (2020) · ChemistrySelect
Effects of nitrogen source and aluminum on growth of tropical tree seedlings adapted to low pH soils
Toshihiro Watanabe, Mitsuru Osaki, Toshiaki Tadano (1998) · Soil Science & Plant Nutrition
Role of aluminum-binding ligands in aluminum resistance of Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Melaleuca cajuputi
Ko Tahara, Mariko Norisada, Takashi Yamanoshita, Katsumi Kojima (2007) · Plant and Soil

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Melaleuca 8 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 31 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.