NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1086, 4 August 1871, Page 2

NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS.

The following useful information is furnished by a correspondent of the Taranaki Herald :—" As a tonic and purifier of the blood, the root of the supplejack stands pre-eminently forward. When dried and sliced, this root may be used instead of sarsaparilla; in fact, I believe some medical men would use the former in preference. Large quantities, I am told, have been sent to the Thames from here as a substitute for sarsaparilla. In town we are constantly cutting down our acacia trees, yet how much a valuable gum too—could we not obtain from these trees. Yet we import all our gum. It is useful in coughs. A little placed in the mouth and swallowed will relieve the most obstinate cough. It is obtained from most of the acacia trees by perforating the bark in December-—in New Zealand—and collecting the gum in the March following. The best gum arabic is obtained from a thorny acacia, and costs "at home two shillings per lb. Our settlers about town are very fond of acacia trees, yet they will not grow the profitable thorny acacia, which I am persuaded will yield the gum arabic—or at least the common gum arabic of commerce. It is a pretty flowering plant, much more beautiful than most of the acacias here."