Tangata whenua

Traditional New Zealand herb

Horopito was a traditional healing plant of the Maori, the first settlers of New Zealand. Bruised leaves were steeped in water and applied to skin conditions like ring worm, chaffing, bruises, wounds and cuts. The leaves were also chewed for toothache. Early European settlers drank a tea of boiled Horopito leaves for stomach ache and diarrhoea. Mother Aubert, a French nun who lived among the Maori at the end of the nineteenth century made the first commercial preparations containing Horopito, for 'chronic stomach sickness'.

It is from an exclusive arrangement with a Maori incorporation that Forest Herbs sources all of its non-farmed Horopito. This incorporation has access to large areas of Kolorex Horopito in a remote part of New Zealand, which it harvests under a sustainable management plan.

Forest Herbs grants selected Maori healers free access to Kaituna farm to harvest Kolorex Horopito for their own preparations.