Untitled

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 16, 13 October 1927, Page 5

"I was astonished to read in the ‘Star* the other evening that a Wanganui man had stated that the karaka was not a native of New Zealand, that its home was Java," writes "Tangata Whenua" in the Auckland “Star." "The karaka is just as much a New Zealander as the tuatara, the moa, or the kiwi. The Wanganui man apparently knows better than the late Mr. T. F. cheeseinan, who says in his 'Manual of New Zealand Flora’ that the karaka is a genus of one species, peculiar to New Zealand;. in fact, he quotes a world-famous botanist, who held the view that the karaka. should be plated in a separate order—which, one may explain, indicates how very individual it is. Where the Wanganui man got his idea that it came ' from Java I cannot conceive.' It grows only in New Zealand and some of the outliers, such as the Kermadecs and the Chathams. There is, I believe, a legend that it was brought by the Maoris from their overseas home, but the botanists have shown that that is impossible. It is the same with the tainui. The Maoris had a legend that it sprouted from the fpot : boards or some other part of the Tainui canoe when it was hauled ashore down Kawhia way. Unfortunately for the story, the tree does not grow in any of the Pacific Islands."