KOROMIKO AS MEDICINE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25015, 8 September 1942, Page 2

KOROMIKO AS MEDICINE

TREATMENT OF DYSENTERY RESEARCH WORK ON PLANT '(Special) WELLINGTON, Sept. 7. Years before the first white men came to New Zealand the Maoris were curing their stomach'-aches by chewing the leaves of a native plant, koromiko- to-day, their interest stimulated by the successful use of the plant m the treatment of dysentery among soldiers, scientists are trying to discoverjust what is the effective substance koromiko and how it works on the human body. As a result. New Zealand may yet add a valuable drug to the pharmacopoeia. . , In actual fact, though the medicinal properties of the plant have never before been scientifically investigated,, its use is no secret to the older chemists of- the country. Thirty or 40 years ago they used to make from the leaves a tincture which had a considerable sale. Then its popularity waned, though even to-day many families make their own decoctions for home use. During the last war Maori soldiers serving in the Middle East received • parcels of koromiko from their relatives at home. They distributed it among their pakeha comrades, and apparently it was fairly widely used, though without official recognition. Recollection of its success recently ■ prompted Surgeon-general R. Downes, of the A IF., to write to the Botany Division of the Plant Research Bureau, asking for some material for test. The director of the division had the material despatched immediately. In addition, with the co-operation of the Director-general of Medical Services, Brigadier F. T. Bowerbank, supplies were sent for trial with New Zealand troops in the Middle East, and tinctures and decoctions prepared by army medical store headquarters were authorised for use in four military camps within the Dominion. Reports were soon received that the medicine was having a very beneficial effect in the treatment of acute dysentery, and further supplies were requested. The plant material is now being analysed by the Dominion Laboratory to locate the active principle, and physiological experiments are being conducted by Dr F. H. Smirk, professor of medicine in the University of Otago, to find how it acts. Preliminary - results indicate thai; an extract of the plant material has the effect of relaxing intestinal tissue which has been thrown into muscular spasm.

RUSSIAN INTEREST SEEDS SUPPLIED SOME YEARS AGO (Special) CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 7. ' s As long as six years ago the Christchurch Botanic Gardens were supplying seeds of the koromiko plant to Russia for medicinal purposes, said the curator, Mr J. McPherson, commenting to-day on the report describing the successful use of koromiko in the treatment of dysentesy among New, Zealand troops in the Middle East. The Bureau of Plant Introduction at Sukkum, Southern Caucasus, first wrote to the Botanic Gardens in 1936 for seeds of the plant, Mr McPherson said. It was definitely stated that the Russians wished to use the plant for medicinal purposes. Sukkum was one of six Russian plant stations with which the Christchurch Domains Board kept in regular communication for information and for extensive exchange. Requests for koromiko were frequently received from local residents, the last occasion being late in August, when a city businessman telephoned to say that he was sending his office boy to the Gardens to obtain a supply for him. .