这里只说三种有医用价值的 Tea Tree：澳洲山茶（
Melaleuca alternifolia），纽西兰的 Manuka 和 Kanuka。
玛纽卡（Manuka） 和 Kanuka 在纽西兰都被称为 Tea Tree；两者的功效也相同。传说中的抗癌效益并没有得到证实，有效的作用仅包括灭菌、疗伤和驱虫。玛纽卡蜂蜜的传奇效果和高昂的售价看来都是商业宣传的结果。
Melaleuca alternifolia 的医用价值包括：
Melaleuca oil, a
topical antibacterial and
antifungal used in a range of
herbal medicine products including
antiseptics,
deodorants,
shampoos,
soaps and
lotions. It is also effective against
aphthous ulcers, more commonly known as canker sores. Tea tree oil is toxic if ingested in large amounts and if used topically in high concentrations may cause skin irritation. No deaths have been reported. Tea tree oil normally is extracted from
Melaleuca alternifolia commercially, it can also be extracted from
Melaleuca dissitiflora and
Melaleuca linariifolia.
Mānuka
sawdust imparts a delicious flavour when used for
smoking meats and
fish. It is cultivated in New Zealand for
mānuka honey. Mānuka honey is a
monofloral honey produced in
New Zealand and
Australia from the nectar of the
mānuka tree. It has
in vitro antibacterial properties but there is not conclusive evidence of benefit in medical usage. It has been classified as a Therapeutic Good in Australia, and has received approval from the US Federal Drug Administration in 2007. A 2002 review found that although the
antibacterial activity of honeys (including mānuka honey) had been demonstrated
in vitro, the number of clinical case studies was small. It felt there was a potential for its usage in "the management of a large number of wound types". A 2008
Cochrane Review found that honey may help improve superficial
burns compared to standard dressing, but there was insufficient evidence from studies, many of which were on mānuka honey, to be conclusive, and the use of honey for
leg ulcers provided no benefit. The review found that there was insufficient evidence for any benefit in other types of chronic wounds, as all of the data came from a single centre of research, and that "data from trials of higher quality found honey had no significant effect on healing rates or had significantly slower rates of healing".
Methylglyoxal (MGO) is the major antibacterial component of mānuka honey. Other smaller antibacterial effects are expected to arise from the
osmolarity and
pH of the mānuka honey.
In vitro studies indicate methylglyoxal is an effective
antimicrobial agent against forms of
MRSA, but there is a lack of case studies on people. Mānuka honey, alongside other antibacterial products, does not reduce the risk of infection following treatment for
ingrown toenails.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melaleuca_alternifolia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuka_honey
THE TRADITIONAL USES OF MANUKA
The Maori people were very adept at using native trees and plants for
food and for curing many illnesses that inflicted the people. Originally
knowledge of medicinal plants was held exclusively by the tohunga
(Maori Doctor) but the Maori could soon realise by the plants that he
ordered them to use what special value a plant had for a certain
disease. This knowledge was kept alive and passed down by the older
women of the tribes who continued to use their old remedies today.
Both manuka and kanuka were used extensively by the Maori and later by
the early European settlers as a medicinal plant -alone and in
combination with other native plants.
Captain Cook gave manuka the name of "tea tree" and wrote of it... "the
leaves were used by many of us as a tea which has a very agreeable
bitter taste and flavour when they are recent but loses some of both
when they are dried. When the infusion was made strong it proved emetic
(induces vomiting) to some in the same manner as 'green tree"'. Early
settlers gave it the name "tea tree" as they too made a drink of it.
Kunzea Ericoides (kanuka) was also used by Maori people with both plants
having similar virtues. The leaves and bark were used in a variety of
ways to cure their ailments and illnesses.
A decotion of leaves was drunk for urinary comlaints and as a febrifuge
(reduces fever). The leaves were boiled in water and inhaled for head
colds. Leaves and bark were boiled together and the warm liquid was
rubbed on stiff backs and rheumatic joints. The leaves and young
branches were put into many vapour baths. Polack wrote. - - "an infusion
of the leaves of this herb is regarded as peculiarly serviceable to
persons in a reduced state, whose previous mortalities will not admit
of the strictest investigation. It is very astringent ·'. And this
from James Neill. - "It is a well known diuretic when drunk in quantity;
and I remember hearing of a doctor in Dunedin in the early days, who
told a patient who had dropsy to go into the bush, gather a handful of
manuka leaves, put them in a quart jug and fill up with boiling water
and drink it often. she did this and was cured".
Young shoots were chewed and swallowed for dysentry.
An infusion of the inner bark was taken internally as a sedative and
promoted sleep. It was also given as a sedative to an excited person or
one in pain. Externally, this was rubbed on the skin to ease pain and
was said to help heal fractures. The crushed bark was steeped in boiling
water and the water used for inflamations, particularly for women with
congestion of the breasts. A decoction of the barks of kanuka and
kowhai, mixed with wood ash and dried, was rubbed Into the skin for
various skin diseases. For constipation, pieces of the bark were bailed
until the waler darkened in colour and the liquid drunk. The inner bark
was boiled and the water used as a gargle, mouthwash and for bathing
sore eyes.
The emollient whlte gum, called pia manuka, was given to nursing babies
and also used to treat scalds and burns- It was also chewed to ease a
bad cough and given to children to relieve constipation. Fresh sap was
drawn from a length of the trunk and taken as a breath and blood
purifier - (Adams)
The seed capsules were boiled and the fluid used externally to bathe
bruises and lnflamation, in congestion of the chest for example. the
fluid was also taken internally to treat diarrhoea and dysentry. The
Maori people chewed the capsules for the same complaints. For colic,
six or eight capsules were chewed every ten minutes until the pain
subsided - (Poverty Bay Cookery Calender.) A poultice of the powdered
capsules was used to dry up an open wound or running sore.
Clearly both manuka and kanuka were important medicinal plants, both to
the Maori and to the early European settlers who, In the early years of
settlement, depended on Maori knowledge of medicinal plants in treating.
their own illnesses. The Maori people valued the medicinal qualities of
manuka and kanuka just as the Aboriginal people of Australia valued
their own native "tea tree".
http://www.manuka-oil.com/uses.html
