MAORI NATURE NOTES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 70, 6 March 1930, Page 7

MAORI NATURE NOTES

FOR TRIBUNE READERS (Copyright—J. H.S.) Readers of the “Tribune" who are interested in the flora and bird life of New Zealand, by cutting out these Maori Nature Notos each day as they appear and filing them in a suitable ecrap booh, may compile a book of reference which will be to them a source of pleasure and instruction in tue years to come.

KUMARAHOU (colour like the new kumera), a remarkable shrub with large leaves shaded on the underside, and abundant clusters of dark yellow blossoms like rosettes. Peculiar to poor lands in the far north; but under cultivation anywhere shows much improvement in form and colour. It is well worthy of a place in the shrubbery, The blooms of old gold on the cliff side in the north are truly a thing of beauty. Its fragrant flowers abound in honey, and attract flying visitors, both bird andl insect, in thousands, During October and November. It is said to grow also in Victoria and Tasmania; but it remained for the Maori to discover its wonderful curative value in the rare occurrence of tarutawhiti, a species of influenza. Barefoot expeditions for hundreds of miles lasting for months were undertaken to procure the flowers, which were put in a gourd, covered with water, and hot stones dropped in to make a decoction for drinking.