Reviving traditional uses of more locally available plants as medicines, while continuing to extend our knowledge about their pharmacology and phytochemistry, enables an integrative approach that is highly relevant in the modern world.

While we have become accustomed to using herbs and spices from faraway places, the recent Covid-19 pandemic lead to serious supply chain disruptions for many of these. We were reminded about the importance of our heritage and traditional knowledge, and our local environment as a source of our most valuable and accessible medicines.

 Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, our heritage includes both introduced plants that grow prolifically in our local environment, as well as our own unique treasure of native plants.

 Many of these can and should be more frequently applied as ‘first line treatments’ for many common health conditions.

By recognising and understanding more about the availability of, preparation methods for and historical uses of endemic plants, and combining these learnings with a modern scientific evaluation of their phytochemistry, pharmacology and clinical studies, greater knowledge about these relatively accessible plant medicines will be achieved. This should help facilitate and foster an increased confidence and ability to use them safely and effectively, in clinical practice

Key Learning Objectives:

1. Greater awareness about specific medicinal plants that have been naturalised or are regarded as invasive species in Aotearoa NZ, their pharmacology and traditional uses, and their applications in treating a range of common human health conditions.

  2. More knowledge about the taonga, pharmacology and clinical applications of our indigenous medicinal plants, and how some of these can be applied in a sustainable and efficacious way, to treat many common health conditions.

  3. Greater knowledge and confidence, about how to use several endemic introduced plants and native plants, for conditions commonly seen in clinical practice, including skin conditions, digestive and respiratory tract conditions, and chronic autoimmune illnesses.

Bio:

Dip Herb Med; M.Pharm; MNIMH; FNZAMH; MNHAA

Phil is the Founder and former R&D Director of Phytomed, a GMP certified herbal medicine manufacturer producing herbal extracts for practitioners in New Zealand and Australia, and the Kiwiherb range of herbal products.

 He has written and presented extensively on a wide range of herbal subjects for practitioner, consumer and industry audiences in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the UK for thirty years.

 These include the medicinal uses and pharmacological actions of several endemic native plants, which Phil has researched and incorporated into both his clinical practice, and product developments. These include many formulations directed at common health conditions.

 Phil also has a longstanding passion for using other plants growing readily in our local environment, including several regarded as invasive weeds. As with his expertise in native plants, he has written and presented extensively on the pharmacology and clinical uses of these at practitioner conferences in Australia and New Zealand. 

 Phil’s passion for these subjects has extended into an involvement in practitioner education and regulation, with farmers, growers and wildcrafters, and mahi with various agencies, to research and advocate for a greater contribution of locally grown plants, to our future healthcare.