Fuchsia excorticata. Kōtukutuku. Kōnini. Tree fuchsia.
Māori names
Māori names
kōhutuhutu, kōhutukutuku (Taylor 1847), kōhutuku (Goldie 1904),
Fruit: KŌNINI (term also used for the tree), tākawa (Williams 1971), kōtukutuku - southern name for fruit as well as tree (Beattie 1920); hōnā (Best 1907), māti (Williams 1971),
Common names
Food
Berry eaten (Taylor 1847; Taylor 1855 ; Colenso 1868a, 1868b, 1880 ; Best 1907, 1942; Makereti 1938)
"The fruit ... is sweet though rather insipid" (Taylor 1847)
"Purple fruit of a rather sweet taste, somewhat astringent..." (Kirk, in Taylor 1870).
Fruit "...pleasant to the taste, and very full of flavour" (Servant 1973).
Berry "prized, sweet and juicy, an admirable preserve" (Allom, in Earp 1853).
Jam made from berries (Faulkner 1958). "...(made) a delicious pudding from the native fuschia berries" (Mrs Lush, Auckland, 1850 recorded in Weekly News, 14/6/39, p.89)
Juice was a delicious treat, relished exceedingly (Nicholas 1817).
Berries eated raw, hua-kōtukutuku (Māori informant in Beattie 1920 ; Tunuku Karetai in Beattie, MS 582/E/11, Hocken).
Dyes
"...yields a purple dye and affords a good ink" (Kirk, in Taylor 1870).
Wood astringent, forming shades of purple to black with iron (Buchanan 1868).
In the early summer, young people adorned their faces with the light-blue pollen of the flowers (Colenso 1881b).
Domestic
"Bucket of water" wood, extremely difficult to burn (like rewarewa) (Kirk 1889).
Medicinal
After childbirth, Māori women sometimes used a vapour bath, with plants such as tātarāmoa (Rubus australis), mangaeo (Litsea calicaris), and kōtukutuku (Fuchsia excorticata), to promote lochial discharge (Bennett 1883 ; Goldie 1904)
"Its juice, which is astringent and agreeable, might perhaps yield an extract that would be useful in bowel complaints" (in Catalogue, New Zealand Exhibition 1865 - notes probably by Buchanan.)
Chemistry
Tannins in bark (Aston 1918b, 1919a)
Proverbs
"I whea koe i te ngahorotanga o te rau o te kōtukutuku? Meaning: Where wert thou in the time of work,- or of danger? Literally: Where wert thou in the falling of the leaves of the kōtukutuku?." (Colenso 1879: 117)
