Geniostoma ligustrifolium var. ligustrifolium. Hangehange.
Scientific name
Geniostoma rupestre var. ligustrifolium
Māori names
HANGEHANGE, hengahenga, pāpā, Pāhengahenga, pāpāhenga , whangewhange; pāpāuma (Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki - in Beever 1991)
Common names
Food
Generally used for enveloping various roots etc., during the process of cooking (Kirk, in Taylor 1870).
Roots of tikoraha, Cordyline stricta [C. pumilio], tied separately for baking in bundles of hangehange (Colenso 1868a).
Dyes
Bark reduced to pulp and used as a black dye (Brett's Guide 1883 ; White, from ms. in Dominion Museum, quoted in Aston 1918b)
Medicinal
Lotion used for childrens' sores, hawaniwani (Goldie 1904; Best 1906).
Bark is bruised and applied for the itch by rubbing it over the skin ( Taylor 1848 and 1870; Kerry-Nicholls 1886).
Related pharmacology in Brooker, Cambie and Cooper 1987.
See Riley 1994 for information on medicinal uses of related plants elsewhere in the world.