<hw>Paper-bark Tree</hw>, or <hw>Paper-barked Tea-tree</hw>, <i>n</i>. Called also <i>Milk-wood</i> (q.v.). Name given to the species <i>Melaleuca leucodendron</i>, Linn. Its bark is impervious to water.
1842. `Western Australia,' p. 81:
"There is no doubt, from the partial trial which has been made of it, that the wood of the <i>Melaleuca</i>, or tea-tree, could be rendered very serviceable. It is sometimes known by the name of the paper-bark tree from the multitudinous layers (some hundreds) of which the bark is composed. These layers are very thin, and are loosely attached to each other, peeling off like the bark of the English birch. The whole mass of the bark is readily stripped from the tree. It is used by the natives as a covering for their huts."
[Compare the New Zealand <i>Thousand-jacket</i>.]
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries of Australia,' vol. i. c. v. p. 106:
"The face of the country was well but not too closely covered with specimens of the red and white gum, and paper-bark tree."
1847. E. W. Landor, `The Bushman; or, Life in a New Country,' p. 212:
"Fish and other things are frequently baked in the bark of the papertree."
1857. J. Askew, `Voyage to Australia and New Zealand,' p. 433:
"The dead bodies are burnt or buried, though some in North Australia place the corpse in the paper bark of the tea-tree, and deposit it in a hollow tree."