OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1939, Page 5

OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

KARENGO (To the Editor.' Sir,—A note on karengo. copied from and acknowledged to the “TimesAge." appeared in a Wellington paper on October 2-1. The note stated that i kmvngo was known to botanists as | laminaria. Now the genus laminaria I does not occur in this part of the world. 'Tlie mistake was first made iii Williams's Maori dictionary and has been copied since. Thus in “The Old Time Maori." 1938, Makereti speaks of karengo (laminaria Sp.l Karengo is simply the English laver and Is a porphyra a red seaweed. Laminaria is a brown seaweed. It is not found in New Zealand nor in Australia. The habitats of the (wo plants are quite different. I have .received lan authentic specimen of karengo ■ through the courtesy of Bishop Benj nell. It is undoubtedly porphyra. A similar mistake is also made by cor- ’ respondents who state that Irish moss lis found on our coasts. Irish moss, or I chondrus crispus. is not found in New i Zealand. But several species of gigari tina closely resembling it do occur on I our coasts. They have the same officinal value as the Irish moss and are I easilv made into a jelly.—Yours. etc., W. A. SCARFE. i Wellington. October 31.