Leaves and bark were used as cures for cuts, wounds, and pains in the stomach.

Steam baths from the leaves and bark of kawakawa were used as stimulants for salivary glands, the kidneys, the bowels and sexual organs.  It was used as an aphrodisiac.

The ripe fruit and the liquid from boiled roots were applied to teeth to ease toothache.

A decoction of the leaves was also drunk for boils.

Green leaves and branches were gathered by Maori and laid in rows in the plantations of kumara, between the beds, and then burnt so that insects which injured the growing plants might be destroyed by the disagreeable bitter smoke.