Wairuna. Runa. Water plant. [Potamogeton sp.?]
Māori names
Description
Water lily - from article on Southern and District place names (17 Nov 1899). Beattie.
A water plant. "A sort of water-lily". The Wairuna Stream derived its name from it (Beattie 1920).
[Possibly the common pondweed, Potamogeton cheesemanii ?? Ed.]
Medicinal
Ringworm was called pakewakewa. It is said that the ancient Maori clapped the runa (a water plant) on the afflicted spot as a remedy. Beattie 1920, Beattie 1984 p84.
There are two kinds of this water plant - the runa has broader leaves than the rekareka, [NZ Spinach, Tetragonia tetragonioides? Ed.] while the runa is on one stalk and the other branches out. The runa is good for worms in horses. It is boiled and the water drunk lukewarm and applied very hot to mane and back. When children have worms (noke) they can be cured by runa but of course do not make as strong as for cattle. (Maori informant, Canterbury, in Beattie 1984, p262).
See also dock, Rumex spp.
