Potato cultivars. "Pre-European" names recorded in Journal of Polynesian Society.
Māori names
Māori names
horotae, kotipu, makoikoi, māori, māori-kura, matawhawhati, nganga-tawhiti, ongaonga, pāpaka, parareka, rape, ropi, tairutu, taitaironga. Sources and descriptions as below.
Description
Tregear and Smith, editors of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, in a footnote to article by Hammond 1894 recorded these names as varieties of potato said to be possessed by Māori before the arrival of Europeans.
Te Karehana Whakataki, Ngatitoa tribe, an old man now living at Porirua, "told us positively that the Maoris possessed potatoes before the arrival of Europeans, and gave the following names of varieties - Taewa being the general name :- Parareka, white and pink kinds. Maori, pink, like the Tataironga Kumara. Maori-kura. Nganga-tawhiti. Ropi."
Rangipito,"an old native of the Ngati-awa tribe, now living near the Hutt, Wellington, recently told Mr Elsdon Best that before the arrival of the Europeans they possessed the following varieties of potatoes:- Makoikoi, skin red, white internally. Rape. Parareka, white. Horotae. Taitaironga, black. Maori. Maori-Kura. Papaka. Tairutu, red. Matawhawhati. Kotipu.Ongaonga. "
"In giving this information, these old men intended to imply that the Maoris possessed these varieties before the times of Captains Cook and De Surville, but it seems to us questionable if they are not varieties produced from those brought here by those two navigators."
