Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

Nganga, Mangemange, Wairuru, Rapiruru, Pairata, Atiti, Piakaroa, Parareka, Tahore, Horotae, Whakairirongo, Nepanepa, Tātairongo, Uwhi

Hammond states that the oldest Māoris on the Pātea Coast contend that they had several varieties before the arrival of the Europeans. A certain ancestor, Te Reke Tātairongo, obtained from the hidden world (pō) a tuber that he cultivated carefully and distributed among the people.

Another variety, the Horotae, is said to have been discovered as a seedling and developed into a valuable variety.

The Tātairongo potato is still cultivated at Pātea and Waitotara, and planted about Christmas, yielding largely. Hammond thinks it would prove a very useful late variety for European cultivation.

The names listed above are given by Hammond 1894 as those kinds of potato cultivated before the introduction of the more recent European varieties.