Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

Typha angustifolia

RAUPŌ, kōpūngāwhā, kōpūpūngāwhā, ngāwhā; koare, kārito; kakaukore (used in southern NZ, Anon 1993)

Apart from Williams 1971 names mostly found in Best 1942 and Makereti 1938

Edible rhizome or root: kōareare or aka kōareare, kōreirei (Makereti 1938), kōuka or kāuka, piaka.  

Pollen: nehu-raupō, kōnehu-raupō, pungapunga (also refers to cake made of pollen).

Feathery seeds: hune

Pappus of seeds: tāhune tāhuna, tāhunga (Best 1942: 68)

Young unexpanded shoots: kārito, kōrito. 

Stem of raupō (and maize, etc): tō

Dried leaves of raupō: ngai

Lower part of stem of raupō: ngatu

Pad of raupō leaves lashed over caulking of the attached sides of canoe: whara (Williams 1971)

Pappus of raupō, used as caulking in a canoe: whara hune (Williams 1971).

bulrush, cat's-reed mace (Colenso 1880)

Pollen Pollen made into bread (as in some parts of India). (Kirk, in Taylor 1870).

Process of making bread from the pollen (pua) described in detail (Taylor 1855)

The yellow pollen mixed with water into cakes, baked. Collection process described. (Makereti 1938)

Pollen made into "gingerbread-like" cakes called pungapunga. (Colenso 1868a, 1868b).

Harvesting, preparation of pollen described. "[The] pollen, in its raw state, closely resembled our ground table-mustard; it was made into a light kind of yellow cake, and baked. It was sweetish to the taste, and not wholly unlike London gingerbread. Thirty years ago, specimens of it, both raw and baked, were sent to the Museum, at Kew. I have seen it collected in buckets-full." (Colenso 1879)

Rhizomes "The root of this sedge is filled with a fine mealy substance, which may be eaten" (Taylor 1847, )

Root yields fine meal which is eaten. Kirk, in Taylor 1870

Insipid, watery roots eaten. (Colenso 1868a, 1868b)

Inner part of white succulent roots largely eaten raw, especially by children in summer; mild, cooling, refreshing, not unpleasant (Colenso 1880; Makereti 1938)

The root..."often afford the hungry traveller a meal" (Taylor 1855)

Roots collected, dried, stored. When wanted for food, portion taken, soaked in water for one night, then put in wooden vessel (patua) and pounded with a potuki. Mealy part separated out, mixed with hot water to a kind of porridge. Seeds made into cakes or bread. (Best 1912 p.307).

Outer part of root peeled off, leaving the soft interior, the iho, which was eaten both raw and cooked in a steam-oven. Manuka beetle collected in summer and pounded up, then mixed with the tahuna of the raupo, packed in a small basket, cooked and eaten (Best 1902).

Eating of root also mentioned in Beattie"s notes (MS 582/E/11, Hocken). "Bulrush roots were called ko-areare; they were mashed and formed an article of diet with the old-time Maori" (Maori informant in Beattie 1920).

Roots, kouka, eaten by Tamaki people (Whatahoro 1913)

Leaves sometimes rolled up and used as fishing floats. Leaves used for canoe sails, laced with flax fibres. The downy pappus (hune) used for caulking and plugging holes in their canoes. (Colenso 1868a, 1868b ; Matthews 1911 ; Best 1925

Temporary rafts (Colenso 1868b).

In canoe making, koreirei (rootstock) used as an inset wherever the edges of two sections met ( Best 1925) Papatai = raupō put on the sides of a canoe (White, quoted in Best 1925)

Bundles of rushes used to make rafts called mōkihi or mōkī for crossing rivers. Manufacture described in Shortland 1851. Vessels also described by Selwyn, Tuta Nihoniho, Colenso, Polack, Wakefield in Best 1925.

In an account of the life of Tawhao, the Tainui chief, Tawhao one day constructs a tiny boat of raupō and on it fastened his aurei, greenstone eardrop. This was sent with appropriate incantations across the harbour to his loved one, Marutehiakina. (Te Hurinui 1945)

Leaves strewn round sitting and sleeping places. Downy pappus used for beds, bolsters and pillows. (Colenso 1868a, 1868b; Matthews 1910 ; Best 1925; Beattie 1994)

Down from raupō head invariably filled with small grubs; baked before using as filling for beds and pillows (Taylor 1855).

The leaves are used in lining and roofing houses (Taylor 1855)

Stalks used in building whare. (Kirk, in Taylor 1870).

Universally used to cover the framework of their houses (Colenso 1868a, 1868b ; Servant 1973).

Used for thatching of storehouses (Best 1916)

Colenso 1881 describes the building by skilled Maori artisans of a library and study in his garden. The totara framework "had three separate layers of raupo... in its sides (besides the outer coating of a stiff and hard, yet fine Restiaceous plant (Leptocarpus simplex). The raupo was first separated leaf by leaf, without breaking, and so carefully dried..."

The pappus of seeds was applied to wounds and old ulcerated sores as a protection against dust. (Colenso 1868a).

Infusion made of flax root, tātarāmoa and raupō roots boiled together as a cleansing remedy to assist in removal of placenta (M. Withers, Opotiki, 1941).

Related pharmacology in Brooker, Cambie and Cooper 1987)

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

"Tee whai patootoo a Rauporoa. Long-Bulrush did not strike loudly and repeatedly (so as to be heard)! or, Long-Bulrush gains nothing by his repeated attempts at hitting! This proverb is used by, or for, a person who returns without that for which he went." (Colenso 1879: 126)

Colenso goes on to explain: "... the tips of its long narrow numerous leaves are always agitated with the least breeze, and are naturally carried by the same in one direction before the wind; hence, they invariably keep the same distance from each other, or, if they clash, their striking is not heard, and is productive of no result. Moreover, as the longest plants grow only in the deeper water, the saying may also have a latent reference to the greater difficulty in gathering the flowering spikes from such tall plants."

Leaves of rushes used to plait receptacle for iho in baptisimal rite. (Best 1929)

Dry leaves used to make poi (Te Rangi Hiroa 1949).

Down used as stuffing for poi (Nicholas 1817).

Ornate poi (poi awe) - netted Phormium bags filled with raupō down (tāhuna) and the pappus, ornamented with little tufts of dog hair. Common poi made by wrapping leaves round some object... (Tuta Nihoniho, Ngāti Porou, in Best 1925).

Raupō leaves used to make kites (Taylor, in Best 1925).

Leaf used as bowstring on bent supplejack stem - child"s toy called a tirango. (Tuta Nihoniho, ibid).