Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

Pereira's observations on minerals and vegetable products recently brought from New Zealand, received from Mr W Brown, who wanted to know their properties and commercial value.

Plants listed:

Ripogonum scandens, kareao - New Zealand sarsaparilla. "The stems are said to yield 12 per cent , of extract."

Kauri - comments on resin

Phyllocladus trichomanoides, tanekaha - "The bark is used in dyeing red. Mr W. Brown tells me that boat sails are dyed with it to preserve them" ;

Rimu

Weinmannia racemosa, towai - valuable for tanning

Dysoxylum spectabile (recorded as Hartighsia spectabilis), kohekohe - "said to possess the properties of gentian, and to have been substituted for hops in the manufacture of beer.

Pohutukawa - useful for tanning

Hinau - used for dyeing black

Phormium tenax - specimens sent of raw flax (fibre?), first stage of dyeing, the ferruginous mud, and the flax dyed black. "Mr W. Brown states, that the flax cultivated by the natives for the manufacture of their finer kind of mats, is very superior to the coarse kind of flax which grows wild, and which they have usually supplied to Europeans."