Horopito - the ancient herb

New Zealand's isolated position deep in the South Pacific has produced extraordinary flora and fauna. New Zealand has over 2000 unique plants. One, called Horopito (Pseudowintera colorata), has existed largely unchanged for 65 million years!

Horopito is one of the earliest evolved, and most primitive flowering plants. The tiny flowers are overshadowed by the beautiful coloured leaves.

The actives in Kolorex®

The main active component in Horopito is polygodial. In addition to its actions against yeasts, Horopito also contains the powerful antioxidant flavonoids - quercetin and taxifolin.

Forest Herbs has discovered a five-fold difference in activity between the most active and least active Horopito populations. An effective preparation needs to be based on Horopito derived from one of the 'active' populations. Forest Herbs Research has the only commercial planting of active Horopito and a patent over its use.

A reason Horopito has survived so well is the actives in its leaves discourage attack from fungi or predators. These properties were recognised by New Zealand's early settlers,who traditionally used the leaves as an external and internal remedy.

University research in New Zealand and USA has identified the natural actives and compared them favorably against alternatives [2] [3] [4]