Eucalyptus dives or broad-leaved peppermint is a small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 native to temperate dry sclerophyll

Sclerophyll

Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....

 woodlands and forests of south-eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The juvenile leaves are ovate and glaucus, and adult leaves are lanceolate to broad-lanceolate. Leaves are aromatic.

Uses

There are two notable chemotype

Chemotype

Introduced by Pierre Franchomme in 1975 and formalized in the European Union in 2006 with the adoption of the regulation REACH, a chemotype is a chemically distinct entity in a plant or microorganism, with differences in the composition of the secondary metabolites...

s of E.dives: piperitone

Piperitone

Piperitone is a natural monoterpene ketone which is a component of some essential oils. Both stereoisomers, the D-form and the L-form, are known. The D-form has a peppermint-like aroma and has been isolated from the oils of plants from the genera Cymbopogon, Andropogon, and Mentha...

 and cineole. The oil yield is high at 4.7% of the leaf fresh weight.

The piperitone chemotype of E.dives has a peppermint like flavour and aroma. It is distilled for piperitone, which is used in the production of synthetic menthol. The major producing region is eastern Transvaal

Transvaal Province

Transvaal Province was a province of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961, and of its successor, the Republic of South Africa, from 1961 until the end of apartheid in 1994 when a new constitution subdivided it.-History:...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, where it is grown in commercial plantations. The leaves of the piperitone chemotype have also been used as a flavouring in Australia since colonial times, especially in combination with a brewed black Camellia sinensis

Camellia sinensis

Camellia sinensis is the species of plant whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce Chinese tea. It is of the genus Camellia , a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. White tea, green tea, oolong, pu-erh tea and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed...

'billy tea'. This is the chemotype intended when none is specified http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/msds/eucalyptusdivesgc.htm

The cineole chemotype of E.dives is a generic type eucalyptus oil

Eucalyptus oil

Eucalyptus oil is the generic name for distilled oil from the leaf of Eucalyptus, a genus of the plant family Myrtaceae native to Australia and cultivated worldwide. Eucalyptus oil has a history of wide application, as a pharmaceutical, antiseptic, repellent, flavouring, fragrance and industrial uses...

, and is harvested and distilled commercially. Cautionary note: If this chemotype exists, it is uncommon. The usual sources of cineole are eucalyptus globulus http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/eucalyptus-essential-oil-globulus-p-239.html, http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/msds/eucalyptusgc.htm and Eucalyptus radiata http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/eucalyptus-essential-oil-radiata-p-1360.html, http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/msds/eucaluptusradiatagc.htm