Horopito (Pseudowintera colorata)

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What is Horopito?

Horopito is commonly known as New Zealand pepperwood for its mild spicy flavor and exclusivity to the cooler islands of the south pacific ocean — including New Zealand.

This herb has a lot of traditional uses as medicine but went largely noticed by the international herbal medicine community. Recently there’s been a surge in interest in the plant after a series of studies were done to assess the medical value of traditional New Zealand herbs.

Horopito is used for skin and digestive conditions largely due to the plant’s potent antifungal actions. This plant has been shown to kill candida, as well as a number of parasitic worms.

The mild spicy nature of the plant also brings some circulatory stimulant and analgesic activity.

This plant has a lot of practical applications, especially for infectious fungal or parasitic conditions. It’s likely this plant will become much more commonplace in western herbal medicine within the next 5 to 10 years.

 

What is Horopito Used For?

The primary uses of horopito in modern herbal medicine is for fungal, bacterial, and parasitic infections.

A liquid extract of the herb is the most common form used today, but you can also find capsules and topical applications of the herb. For skin infections, such as ringworm or eczema, a poultice of the leaves can be applied directly, but a liniment is more common as the plant can be difficult to grow outside New Zealand.

 

Traditional Uses of Horopito

The Maori of New Zealand have been using horopito for a long time and have a long list of applications for its leaves.

The Maori use horopito in the following ways:

  • As a flavoring agent (spicy flavor profile)

  • For sexually transmitted infection

  • Ringworm

  • Chaffed or damaged skin

When the early Europeans colonized New Zealand many of them began using the herb as a source of vitamin C to prevent or treat scurvy.

Herb Details: Horopito

Herbal Actions:

  • Analgesic
  • Anti-Allergy
  • Antibacterial
  • Antifungal
  • Anti-Inflammatory
  • Astringent
  • Circulatory Stimulant
  • Gastroprotective
  • Insecticidal
  • Nutritive
  • Rubefacient

Weekly Dose

Part Used

Leaves & Inner Bark

Family Name

Winteraceae

Distribution

Cooler Tropical islands Around new Zealand

Constituents of Interest

  • Anthocyanins
  • Dialdehyde polygodial
  • Sesquiterpenes
  • Eugenol

Common Names

  • Horopito
  • New Zeland Pepper Tree
  • Maori Painkiller
  • Ramarama

CYP450

  • Unknown

Quality

  • Warm

Pregnancy

  • Safety during pregnancy not well established, avoid use while pregnant or breastfeeding.

Duration of Use

  • Long-term use is acceptable and common

Botanical Information

Horopito is a member of the Winteraceae family of plants — which consists of about 90 species of trees and shrubs nearly exclusive to the Southern hemisphere.

The leaves of horopito have a characteristic red color as a result of the sesquiterpene content of the leaves — which are also one of the main medicinal compounds in the plant.

 

Cautions & Safety Information:

There have been very few reports of side effects from using horopito — however, some reports of allergic reactions have been reported.

Horopito should be avoided by epileptics due to a possible increase in extracellular glutamate found in some animal studies.

Avoid larger doses of the herb with acute gastritis or peptic ulcers.

 

Author:

Justin Cooke, BHSc

The Sunlight Experiment

(Updated March 2020)

 

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