The name "Melaleuca" is derived from the Ancient Greek μέλας ("mélas") meaning "dark" or "black" and λευκός ("leukós") meaning "white", apparently because one of the first specimens described had fire-blackened white bark. The common name "tea-tree" has been applied to species in the genera "Leptospermum", "Melaleuca", "Kunzea", and "Baeckea" because the sailors on the "Endeavour" used the leaves of a shrub from one of these groups as a replacement for tea "Camellia sinensis" during Captain James Cook's 1770 voyage to Australia.