A New Zealand native plant that is often overlooked is the mighty kūmarahou. Alongside its healing properties, kūmarahou flowers contain saponins — natural surfactants that create a gentle foaming lather. This allows...

Mānuka honey has a long history of use in skin treatment and repair. The antibacterial nature of the honey – which it is renowned for (and why it is so sought after!) – means it is incredibly cleaning and restorative and makes it an essential i...

Kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum) is a herbaceous shrub native to New Zealand. It has knobbly joints, branching stems, and distinctive large, heart-shaped dark green leaves that are sometimes slightly glossy. There are also offshore island species...

For thousands of years plants were the primary source of medicine, with widespread knowledge of the healing properties of specific plants recorded in ancient civilisations. Until the mid 1800’s the medicinal properties of plants were the main hea...

Aotearoa in 1800 was unequivocally a Māori world. Any reference to “New Zealanders” in the first half of the nineteenth century referred almost exclusively to Māori. At the beginning of the century, the Māori population was est...

Mānuka oil and tea tree oil are often mistaken for being similar, but they are in fact very different. Tea tree oil has long been a familiar household product, while mānuka oil is a relatively new and emerging industry. ...