Cyathea dealbata. Ponga. Silver fern.
Previous names
Previous names
Alsophila tricolor
Māori names
Common names
Food
"The iho (heart) of the katote [Cyathea smithii] is good to eat, but that of the others [poka and wheki] is bitter." (Beattie 1920)
Fishing and hunting
Tārerarera, rough throwing spears made of mānuka, were sometimes pointed with kātote (kaka ponga), the hard, black fibres of the kaponga, which is of a poisonous nature.
"Some natives talk of bow and arrow". The bow made of pirita, arrows of fernstalk or a shoot (pihi) of the kaiwhiria, with a point of kātote lashed on. Used by children to kill birds in olden days. Best says sources unreliable (Best 1902).
Piece of hard, black substance found in old, dry ponga used as barbs, bound to shaft of spears (Matthews 1911).
Domestic
Among Tūhoe, adze handles sometimes rendered smooth after manufacture by being rubbed on the rough trunk of the tree-fern (Best 1912).
Medicinal
Pith used to make poultice, skin disease (Taylor 1870; Goldie 1904).
Pith used as a poultice for cutaneous eruptions and in cases of eye diseases (Mason 1941)
Related pharmacology in Brooker, Cambie and Cooper 1987.
