Pteridium esculentum. Aruhe. Fernroot. Inferior kinds.
Māori names
Māori names
Common names
Food
Inferior kinds of fernroot described in Best 1902, 1942:
Kaka-nui - "inferior, but occasionally eaten".
Tūakura is applied to inferior fernroot, which is brown or reddish in appearance when broken.
Pehapeha - an inferior kind, as when the best roots have been culled out.
Pakakohi - roots of poor quality.
Koata described as "very inferior; it is not eaten" Note that koata is also a name for the young bracken shoots.
Taukuao, kotau and rotari are described as young roots, unfit for food.
Pārara - bad fernroot (Williams 1971)
Colenso 1880 described "the third best and inferior sorts":
pakakohi - dried and gathered scraps
pitopito - ends
pakupaku - small in size (broken parts of the choicer kinds)
"tuakau, pararaa, etc, etc."
Nga pehapeha = rinds, skins; for common daily use. Williams 1971 describes pehapeha as an inferior quality of fernroot.
