“Passing Maori Memories”

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7062, 23 January 1933, Page 6

“Passing Maori Memories”

KIEKIE

[Recorded by “ J.H.S.” for the Times. ] In the course of a conversation Avitk a Palmerston North resident who knoAvs her language, a Maori lady from Awahuri said, ‘ ‘I cannot understand why you pakeha gardeners do not cultivate our native Kiekie in your public or private parks. The Maori cannot do it, because for a thousand years he did not need to be a cultivator, everything- he wanted grew without his help.” The wisdom of the suggestion is surely beyond question. The edible flower of this unique plant ha 3 not been seen in recent years by one person in a thousand, yet it grows in damp situations among native hush within ten miles of several cities and is easily grown in a sheltered position. There is said to be nothing resembling its “fruit flower’’ in any other part of the world. Both petal and stamen are edible, and ripen in seasons six months apart. Cultivated in one’s garden the Kiekie would he an attractive edible novelty. Its long, narrow leaf has a fibre of great tensile strength and lasting quality for beyond that of flax. Split in strips an eighth of an inch Avide and three feet long, the Maori bleached it and plaited hats for sale to the pakeha. They were shapely, light and durable. These potae kiekie lasted for ten yeare or more. The flower or fruit attracted birds and rats; but the Maori and pakeha children protected it by tying the long surrounding leaves tightly over it when green.