MEDICINAL: Green oil used for wounds, sores, chafed skin, bruises, painful joints, weak eyes, into ear for earache. Internal use as laxative. Red pulp relieves bloodspitting in consumptives

Whatever its practical uses, the kowhai in bloom is one of the most beautiful trees in a land of lovely trees. George Nepia, the Maori All Black, relates how he was “cured by kowhai."

My interest in the herbal lore of other countries turned my thoughts to the considerable use the Maori people made of their trees and shrubs for this purpose. Most of this recorded information is housed in the Turnbull Library ...

MEDICINAL: Gum scraped to powder, applied with olive oil to burns (Adams 1945). Fresh gum resin chewed as masticatory.