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
