Investment in Bog Myrtle

The motion

That the Parliament regrets that the Scottish Government cannot provide any funding under the Scotland Rural Development Programme’s Rural Priorities scheme toward the growing of the bog myrtle plant; welcomes the commitment of Essentially Scottish Botanicals Ltd, based in Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire, to developing the bog myrtle plant as a commercial crop; considers that the bog myrtle industry has huge economic potential for Scotland; understands that the plant’s properties are similar to that of Australian tea tree oil, which is reportedly worth over US$25 million in export sales to Australia each year; further understands that the bog myrtle plant holds even greater antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties than tea tree oil; considers that bog myrtle has a huge advantage over tea tree oil in that it is hypoallergenic at relatively high concentrations; understands that the Australian Government part-funded research into the tea tree industry in order that oil yields could be increased from 148kg per hectare to 250kg per hectare; believes that, after initial planting investment, a low-maintenance bog myrtle plantation can have an average life of 20 years, and would welcome consideration of the ways in which research into increasing the yields of bog myrtle could be funded in order to make it a commercially attractive non-food crop.


No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

Con 6 SNP 3 Lab 2 Green 1 LD 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S3M-05880 by reference.