(or rongoā Māori) refers to the traditional medicinal practices developed among the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

in New Zealand. Rongoā was one of the Māori cultural practices targeted by the

Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 The Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 was an Act of the New Zealand Parliament aimed at replacing tohunga as traditional Māori healers with western medicine. It was introduced by James Carroll who expressed impatience with what he considered regr ...

, until lifted by the Maori Welfare Act 1962. In the later part of the 20th century there was renewed interest in Rongoā as part of a broader

Māori renaissance Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of th ...

. Rongoā can involve spiritual,

herbal A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, Herbal tonic, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or Magic (paranormal), magical powers, and the legends associated wi ...

and physical components. Herbal aspects used plants such as harakeke, horopito, kawakawa, rātā, koromiko,

kōwhai Kōwhai ( or ) are small woody legume trees within the genus '' Sophora'', in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with '' Sophora microphylla'' and '' Sophora tetraptera'' being large trees. Their natu ...

, kūmarahou,

mānuka Mānuka (; ''Leptospermum scoparium'') is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family (biology), family Myrtaceae, native to New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) and south-east Australia. Bees produce mānuka honey from its necta ...

, tētēaweka, pukatea and

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

. The practice of Rongoā is only regulated by the Therapeutics Products Bill in the case of commercial or wholesale production so that "Māori will continue using and making rongoā just as they have for generations."

References

Further reading