Editing Mānuka (section)

==Uses==
[[Image:ManukaEssentialOil.png|thumb|upright|Mānuka (''Leptospermum scoparium'') essential oil in a clear glass vial]]

In traditional [[Māori culture]], mānuka was used for a wide variety of uses, including as a building material, for items such as combs, paddles and digging sticks, to contruct eel weirs, for weaponry, and to construct pallisade walls of [[pā]]. The plant also had uses in traditional [[rongoā]] medicine, with influsions being made from leaves, or by collecting mānuka gum.<ref name="MeaningTrees"/>

The wood was often used for tool handles. Mānuka [[sawdust]] imparts a distinctive flavour when used for [[Smoking (food)|smoking]] meats and fish.<ref name="MeaningTrees"/> It is cultivated in Australia and New Zealand for [[mānuka honey]], produced when [[honeybee]]s gather the [[nectar]] from its flowers, and for the pharmaceutical industry. It is also used for carving. [[Manuka oil|An essential oil]], for which many medicinal claims are made, is produced by steam distillation of its leaves. Mānuka, as it is called by most New Zealanders, was used in pre-European times by Māori, and still is. A [[decoction]] of the leaves was drunk for urinary complaints and as a febrifuge (an agent for reducing fever). The steam from leaves boiled in water was inhaled for head colds. A decoction was prepared from the leaves and bark and the warm liquid was rubbed on stiff muscles and aching joints. The emollient white gum, called ''pai mānuka'', was given to nursing babies and also used to treat scalds and burns. Chewing the bark is said to have a relaxing effect and it enhances sleep.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.manukaoil.com/manuka_oil_uses.htm|title=Manuka Oil Uses and Information|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327064607/http://www.manukaoil.com/manuka_oil_uses.htm|archive-date=2016-03-27}}</ref>

Mānuka leaves have been used as a flavouring agent in craft beers and tonics.<ref name="MeaningTrees"/>