Pip Williams, a retired pharmacist living in Northland, has spent his life observing and recording the use by local Māori of native plants for medicinal purposes. Te Rongoa Māori brings together his observations on 43 New Zealand plants and the health problems they were used to treat, colourfully interspersed with anecdotal evidence and beautifully illustrated with watercolours and engravings.
Much of the information in Te Rongoa Māori was told to the author by Ngāpuhi kuia and kaumatua over 40 years ago. Māori in earlier times knew about the therapeutic benefits derived from trees and plants for a variety of health problems, but had no knowledge of pharmacology. Consequently, Te Rongoa Māori makes no claims to being a manual of Māori medicine. However, it comprises an important and faithful record of information gleaned over a lifetime's close association with the Ngāpuhi people, and of the cultural importance of this heritage.
Paperback. Pages: 80