Mānuka as taonga

Mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is a shrub or small tree that grows throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from the coast to the mountains. For Māori, mānuka is a taonga, a treasured possession, connected with Tāne, the atua of the forest.

The hard wood was used for tools, weapons, paddles, palisades and firewood. The leaves, bark and resin were used in rongoā.

When James Cook visited New Zealand in the 1770s, his crew brewed tea from the leaves. That is why the plant is also called tea tree in English. In the twentieth century mānuka became world-famous for its honey.

In the Māori world plants have mauri, life force, and whakapapa, genealogy, just like people. Mānuka is a child of Tāne. Whoever uses mānuka enters into a relationship with the plant and with the forest.

Kaitiakitanga, the guardianship and protection of the land and its resources, is a core concept. Mānuka is not just a product, but something to protect for future generations.

That is why, for many Māori, the struggle over the name mānuka is about more than trade: it is about their language, their knowledge and their relationship with the land.

Knowledge about mānuka passes from generation to generation in Māori families and communities, as part of the broader knowledge of rongoā.

In the 1980s the biochemist Peter Molan at the University of Waikato studied the antibacterial effect of mānuka honey. In 2008 researchers discovered that the compound methylglyoxal plays an important role in it.

More and more beekeepers and honey companies are Māori-owned, and they link their work with kaitiakitanga.

The use of mānuka in rongoā has been written about by, among others, Murdoch Riley in Māori Healing and Herbal of 1994, and the online encyclopaedia Te Ara.

Since 2015 New Zealand producers, with the Mānuka Charitable Trust, have tried to protect the word mānuka as a certification mark. In 2021 the UK Intellectual Property Office rejected this, and in 2023 the New Zealand office also ruled that “manuka honey” is a descriptive term.

The Mānuka Charitable Trust, which stands up for Māori rights, continues the struggle.

Mānuka honey is one of New Zealand’s best-known export products. A controlled form is used in hospitals in wound dressings.

There is a major conflict with Australian producers, who also call honey from related Leptospermum species mānuka. For Māori it is about the use of a Māori word.

Mānuka is also planted to restore land, because the shrub grows quickly on bare ground.

In rongoā the leaves of mānuka were steeped for fever and colds, and the bark and resin used for burns and skin complaints. The related kānuka was used in a similar way.

Mānuka honey is made by bees from the nectar of mānuka flowers. The honey contains methylglyoxal, which inhibits bacteria.

Mānuka grows together with other native plants, such as kawakawa and kūmarahou.

Mānuka is a taonga. If you buy mānuka honey, you can choose Māori-owned brands or brands with fair agreements with Māori.

Honey is not suitable for children under one year old, because of the risk of botulism. Medical wound honey is something different from honey from the supermarket.