Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

PŌKĀKĀ, hīnau-puka (Best 1898, 1907), whīnau puka, mahimahi (Williams 1971) 

Used, like hīnau, as mordant to make black dye. Process described in Best 1898. (See also White, from ms. in Dominion Museum, quoted in Aston 1918a; Colenso 1869a, 1882b ; Best 1907).

Kiakia [sic] gathered from near Outram and soaked with the bark of pōkākā to dye it (Māori informant in Beattie 1920).

Produces good firm leather (Kirk 1889)

"The women put [pikao] in a waka.. in which kiripokaka (pokaka bark) was steeping. This was to soften the pikao for pleating (whatu)." (Beattie 1994)

See Riley 1994 for information on medicinal uses of related plants elsewhere in the world.

References on tannin content in Cambie 1976. See also Kirk 1889, Aston 1918b.