Entelea arborescens. Whau.
![Whau (Entelea arborescens) in flower and with old prickly seed heads. Creator: Geoff Walls. © Geoff Walls. [Image: 135G]](https://data.landcareresearch.co.nz/Image/135G/SysPortalThumb)
![Whau (Entelea arborescens) in flower and with old prickly seed heads. Creator: Geoff Walls. © Geoff Walls. [Image: 135G]](https://data.landcareresearch.co.nz/Image/135G/SysPortalPreview)
Māori names
Māori names
WHAU, hauama, houama, whauama (all in Williams 1971)
Common names
paper mulberry name used by some settlers, corkwood, New Zealand cork tree
Fibre
A Tahitian with Nicholson's party said the tree was common in Tahiti and used for cloth manufacture (Mistaken for Broussonetia - Ed. )
Dyes
Bark and wood used as a dye ( Reed and Brett's 1874)
Fishing and hunting
Very light bark used as floats and buoys (Taylor 1855; Colenso 1868a)
Used for floats for nets, boat fenders (Kirk 1889).
Wood used for floats. Long fibres from trunk used to make "their strongest fishing lines". Ngati-Porou used seasoned whau timber to make mokihi, a raft used for coastal fishing (e.g. crayfishing). Logs pinned together with mānuka, and lashed with supplejack. When outrigger attached, craft called amatiatia (Tuta Nihoniho, in Best 1925)
Environment
Haase 1990 suggests that fast-growing seral trees like whau may be of interest to the pulp and paper industry and for recultivation of mining sites, etc.
Traditions
Tradition on origin in Colenso 1881a.
See fable concerning whau and aute in Taylor 1855.
Pastime
Best 1925: Pieces of wood used in stick games (White quoted) Used for darts (teka). Poi occasionally made from light wood, either houama or maki (Tuta Nihoniho, Ngāti-Porou).
