In one embodiment, a method comprises: establishing, by a network management device, a wireless multicast tree topology for a wireless mesh network, the wireless multicast tree topology comprising a root network device and wireless multicast hubs providing respective wireless multicast areas, the establishing including selecting each wireless multicast hub based on a corresponding location and a corresponding wireless neighbor count; and causing, by the network management device, the root network device to unicast transmit to a selected one or more of the wireless multicast hubs a multicast packet encapsulated within a unicast header, the unicast header causing the selected one or more of the wireless multicast hubs to multicast transmit the multicast packet within a corresponding one or more of the wireless multicast areas.