New Zealand plants
Bv
Sheila Cunningham
Karaka Karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) is a coastal tree having a thick rounded head usually shaped by the prevailing winds. It reaches a height of up to 18 m. The leaves are thick and shining, and the flowers are small and greenish. The trunk is grey and smooth. The karaka’s fruits ripen to orange and have an unpleasant smell. They are poisonous, though the Maoris ate the kernels after carefully cooking and removal of the flesh. Many Maori children suffered from poisoning after eating the fruits. Because this caused convulsions and muscular spasms which could leave the body permanently crippled, their limbs were
firmly tied, and they were buried in sand up to their necks until the effects had passed. The Chatham Islanders call-
ed the tree kopi, and used it for their canoes. Often in the Chatham Islands, and sometimes on the mainland, Maoris carved figures in the bark, which does not flake off.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/FORBI19820801.2.36
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Forest and Bird, Volume 14, Issue 3, 1 August 1982, Page 49
Word count
Tapeke kupu
160New Zealand plants Forest and Bird, Volume 14, Issue 3, 1 August 1982, Page 49
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
For material that is still in copyright, Forest & Bird have made it available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This periodical is not available for commercial use without the consent of Forest & Bird. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this magazine please refer to our copyright guide.
Forest & Bird has made best efforts to contact all third-party copyright holders. If you are the rights holder of any material published in Forest & Bird's magazine and would like to discuss this, please contact Forest & Bird at editor@forestandbird.org.nz
Log in