Polygodial is an active constituent of Dorrigo Pepper, Mountain Pepper

Tasmannia lanceolata

Tasmannia lanceolata , commonly known as the Mountain Pepper , or Cornish Pepper Leaf , is a shrub native to woodlands and cool temperate rainforest of south-eastern Australia. The shrub varies from 2 to 10 m high...

, Horopito

Pseudowintera

Pseudowintera is a genus of woody evergreen flowering trees and shrubs, part of family Winteraceae. The species of Pseudowintera are native to New Zealand. Winteraceae are magnoliids, associated with the humid Antarctic flora of the southern hemisphere. Horopito can be chewed for a hot, peppery...

, Canelo

Drimys winteri

Drimys winteri , or Canelo, is a slender tree, growing up to 20 m tall. It is native to the Magellanic and Valdivian temperate rain forests of Chile and Argentina, where it is a dominant tree in the coastal evergreen forests. It is found below 1200 meters between latitude 32° south and Cape...

, Paracress and Water-pepper

Water-pepper

Water-pepper or Water pepper is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. It grows in damp places and shallow water. It is a cosmopolitan plant, found in Australia, New Zealand, temperate Asia, Europe, and North America...

.

Chemically it is a drimane-type sesquiterpene dialdehyde of formula C₁₅H₂₂O₂.

It elicits a warm and pungent flavour.

The biological activity of polygodial has been reported in the scientific literature to include antifungal and antimicrobial

Antimicrobial

An anti-microbial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes...

 activities, antihyperalgesia, potent attachment-inhibitory activity, insect antifeedant activity, antinociception vasorelaxation action in vessels of rabbit and guinea pig, anti-inflammatory

Anti-inflammatory

Anti-inflammatory refers to the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation. Anti-inflammatory drugs make up about half of analgesics, remedying pain by reducing inflammation as opposed to opioids, which affect the central nervous system....

 and antiallergic activities

Polygodial’s primary antifungal action is as a nonionic surfactant

Surfactant

Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid, the interfacial tension between two liquids, or that between a liquid and a solid...

, disrupting the lipid-protein interface of integral proteins nonspecifically, denaturing their functional conformation. It is also likely that polygodial permeates by passive diffusion across the plasma membrane, and once inside the cells may react with a variety of intracellular compounds.

It is also used as an insecticide

Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind...

for its antifeedant property, which causes insects to starve.