WAYS OF THE WILD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 208, 3 September 1927, Page 21

WAYS OF THE WILD.

A NATURALISTS NOTEBOOK.

TZ PORE. A FORMER FOOD OF THE MAORI.

(By JL T. PYCKOFT.)

Visitors to the Misses Reid's home at Ahipara Lave no doubt noticed on either side of the front, entrance two palm-like plants. They are examples of the few remaining survivors of a jialm-lily which was prouably one of the five plant# -uccessfuUy introduced into this country by the Maori during his migratory voyage* from his former home in I\>lvaesia. the other four plants being the kumara, or sweet potato, the tare, the hue, or gourd, used a« a food, and when dried as a water vessel, and the aute, or paper mulberry. The Misses Keid gave the writer two shoots from their plants. They grew, but were unfortunately killed | by the frost. However, when in New Plymouth recently, a plant was seen in the harbormaster's (Captain \V. Waller) garden at the breakwater, where there is no frost. This plant has recently been sent to me by Captain Ualler. who was formerly commodore of the Huddart-Parker fleet, and a keen botanist.

The late Mr. Cheeseman was a pass»ensrer to the Kermadec Islands on the Government steamer Stella when that vessel left Auckland in ISS7 for the purpose of formally annexing that group to New Zealand.

Mr. Cheeseman states that on Faoul, or Sunday Island, the common ti, of Polynesia., Cordyline terminalis, n~a< found on the lower slopes of the island, but was not very common. He obtained a plant and grew it in his garden at Remuera. The late Mr. T. Kirk, in 1596, supplied the following particular! of an undescribed palm-lily found on the Auckland peninsula:—

"About three years ago Mr. John Maxwell sent the upper part of a leaf of what apeared to be a species of Cordyline, or Iracaena. informing me that the plant 'rom which it had been taken was ctowi? in the garden of Mr. Reid at Ahipara, nd that it had been found in the forest ear that settlement. On applying to Ir. Reid. that gentleman most orwarded a complete leaf, and sta'.<d hat J»e had two plants under cultivar ion. both of which w«»re obtained from he bush on the face of a cliff, about 200 Vet above sea level. The flowers ani 'mit wore quite unknown. Mr. Kirk provisionally named this plant Cordylino Cheesemani, r..s an [acknowledgment of his obligation to Mr. Cheeseman for his excellent botanical work. A Botanist's Protest. Mr. Kirk remonstrated against the use of the unmeaning name "cabbage tree" applied to the various species of Cordyline and suggested the most appropriate name is palm-lily. He thought it may be too much-to expect the various native names to be used Ti is a general name for all the species of Cordyline. the usual name for the common Cordvline called "cabbage tree" is Ti Kouka. * The late Be*. Archdeacon Walsh contributed a paper to the A nek land Institute in 1900 on this plant. Canon Walsh, be had not then been raised to the archdeaconate, states that about 1886 or 1888 he was shown by Miss M- A. Clarke, of Waimate North, two specimens of a cordyline growing in ber garden which he had not seen anywhere before. Miss Clarke informed Canon Walsh that they were specimens of a Ti which the Maoris had in former times been in the habit of cultivating for food, but which of late years had fallen into disuse and practically disappeared from the d'strict. Although Canon Walsh realised the plant was a rare one he had no idea these two specimens were almost the last survivals of a variety that is practically extinct as far as New Zealand is concerned.

The first reliable information Canon Walsh received wu from Mr. J. B. Clarke, of Waimate North, who remembered that forty or fifty years ago it was to be found in many of the native settlements about that district. He was quite familiar with the cooked article, as the Maori nurses and other retainers of the mission families used often to bring small quantities as presents to the children. The ti pore was only found in cultivation. The signification of the name is uncertain, the qualification "pore" literally means "nit off close." as in the case of short cropped hair, and may have reference to the practice of cutting off the t<rp to propagate the plant, or nossibly it may have been used to distinguish this from the taller varieties. It was never cultivated in very large quantities probably from the fact that it was a slow-growing p'3nt, talcing several vear? to nature, and at best vielding brat a com pa rat ively small return. Tn appearance a:s d liabit the "i pore is <]uito di c "incf from any c -pecies of Cordyline found is New Zealand. A short slend»r M- m. with a

i*.>lera".'lv bark, showing a ring •'or everv >af fallen off. is surmounted sv a handsome head of soft plossv leaves, •'row. IJft to -2ft Ion? by 3in or 4in wide, >acb leaf boirr set «ti a fine stalk and '•-riding "v.t in a jrraeeful curve. In ii ?er and well-rrown plants the trunk j',.rts off" ab-"riT thr<>e or four feet from [■be rro'ind. and the top divides into ■••vrral hfads. A Disproportionate Boot. The r<_-ot was by far the most im.•or.ant part of the plant from the Maori point of view. It is a of _Teenish-white pulpy fibre, of such a ■on>istency as to be" easily cut through with a sharp spade. In shape it is a very •longated cone with an irregular outline and a lumpy and corrugated surface, and furnished at occasional intervale with thin, wiry feeders set on at right ingles to the axis. In size the root is out of all proportion to the rest of the plant. On one that Canon Walsh transplanted it was nearly three feet long wkh a principal diameter at the upper hird of from three to four inches and ape ring to a fine point at the lower *n«L On rich alluvial soil the roots often attained such large dimensions hat it was necessary to quarter them 'own the middle in order to reduce them ♦o a convenient sie for cooking. To orepare the root for iood it was w-jth a wooden club on a flat s »one, in the same manner as the fern -oot, until the fibre was quite broken up, after which it «a= steamed in the baangi. or native oven, for from twelve to twenty-four hours. The substance then nresented the appears noe of a plutinous "nass, and the taste is described as of a <ugary ewMn?#? ?j»r v "vor.d i>s* c? the ti rauriki (C. Fumilio) but like that root with a slirhtly bitter after flavour. The cooked arti.lc was highly esteemed, not only for its a_-'i -able but for its nutrithe and keeping qualities.