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Horopito

Pseudowintera colorata

Also calledHoropito (Māori) · Mountain horopito · Pepper-tree

A slow-growing shrub from New Zealand's subalpine regions, also called pepper-tree, used in Māori medicine (rongoā) for skin infections, fever, toothache and venereal disease. Its main active compound, polygodial, kills Candida yeast in the lab, and a horopito extract product was tested in one trial for recurrent vaginal thrush. It can cause allergic contact dermatitis.

What it is used for

  • Māori used the leaves for fungal skin infections. Polygodial, isolated from horopito leaves in 1982 as an anti-Candida agent, was strongly fungicidal in lab tests against Candida albicans and the ringworm fungi Trichophyton mentagrophytes and T. rubrum. No controlled trials on skin infections were found.1,2,3,4

  • Recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis: in a 2-year randomised study of 122 women, tablets containing horopito oleoresin (30% polygodial) with traces of olive, taken one week each month, gave fewer relapses than weekly itraconazole (22 vs 39) and similar overall mycological cure. Blinding is not described in the abstract and no independent replication was found.5

  • Toothache
    Traditional

    Listed among Māori uses of the leaves, with fever and skin infections; no clinical testing found.2

  • Diarrhoea
    Traditional

    Māori use of the leaves for stomach pain and diarrhoea is recorded in a dermatology case report, citing manufacturer data; not clinically tested.1

How it is prepared

ointment / salve

Commercial creams contain horopito extract with other ingredients (one product tested contained horopito alongside tea tree oil, lemon tea tree oil and aloe).

Fungal skin and nail infections

dry extract / capsule

Tablets of horopito oleoresin with trace amounts of olive (Olea europaea), as tested in one trial.

Chopra et al. 2013 trial: one tablet (10 mg horopito oleoresin at 30% polygodial per 100 mg) twice daily for one week each month.

Bacterial infections

Amounts are as recorded by the named source, not a recommendation.

Safety

Pregnancy
Insufficient data
Breastfeeding
Insufficient data

Do not use if

  • Known allergy to horopito or polygodial-containing products

Side effects

  • Allergic contact dermatitis: a 16-year-old developed acute vulvitis requiring hospital care after using a horopito-containing cream; patch tests were positive to horopito extract only
  • Slight dyspepsia was reported by 3 of 61 women taking horopito tablets in the trial

Toxicity

Polygodial is a reactive dialdehyde that the case-report authors consider capable of causing contact sensitisation. Systematic human toxicity data were not found.

In the healing traditions

  • Pacific / Polynesian

    Horopito (rongoā Māori)

    Leaves used in Māori medicine for fever, toothache, skin infections including fungal infections, gonorrhoea and other venereal diseases, stomach pain and diarrhoea.

  • Modern pharmacology

    Polygodial / Kolorex

    Standardised horopito leaf extract (KolorXtract) is used in commercial antifungal products such as Kolorex cream.

Active compounds

polygodial
drimane sesquiterpene dialdehyde; fungicidal against Candida in vitro and non-haemolytic, unlike amphotericin B; also an insect antifeedant in the leaves
9-deoxymuzigadial
second sesquiterpene dialdehyde of the leaves
anthocyanins
colour the red leaf margins, which signal higher polygodial content

History

In 1982 New Zealand researchers reported polygodial from horopito leaves as an anti-Candida agent, giving a chemical basis to a Māori remedy for fungal skin infections. The extract was later sold as KolorXtract in antifungal creams; a 2007 report described the first known case of allergy to it.

Sources

  1. 1.Corazza M et al. Contact vulvitis due to Pseudowintera colorata in a topical herbal medicament. Acta Derm Venereol 2007
  2. 2.Purushotham N et al. Fungal communities in the native New Zealand medicinal plant Pseudowintera colorata (horopito)... Microorganisms 2021
  3. 3.McCallion RF et al. Antibiotic substances from New Zealand plants. II. Polygodial, an anti-Candida agent from Pseudowintera colorata. Planta Med 1982 (title only)
  4. 4.Lee SH et al. In vitro antifungal susceptibilities of Candida albicans and other fungal pathogens to polygodial. Planta Med 1999 (abstract)
  5. 5.Chopra V et al. Prophylactic strategies in recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis: a 2-year study testing a phytonutrient vs itraconazole. J Biol Regul Homeost Agents 2013 (abstract)
  6. 6.Cooney LJ et al. Red leaf margins indicate increased polygodial content and function as visual signals to reduce herbivory in Pseudowintera colorata. New Phytol 2012 (abstract)
  7. 7.GBIF: Pseudowintera colorata (Raoul) Dandy, IUCN category

Reference, not prescription. Nothing here is medical advice. Herbs can interact with medicines and be dangerous in pregnancy; tell your doctor or pharmacist about anything you take.