Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

With the loss of important tropical tree crops, Maori began to select and plant elements of the endemic flora, notably karaka. Stowe collated spatial locations of karaka and checked them against a central database of archaeological sites. If a karaka was found to occur within 500m of an archaeological site it was classified as potentially translocated and of cultural rather than natural origin. Other plants of ethnobotanical significance also sometimes found to occur with karaka - taro, rengarenga, pohutukawa, whau. Research results suggest that karaka naturally restricted to northern North Island. Evidence given for likely introduction of karaka to Kermadec and Chatham Islands. Case is presented for partial domestication.