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Kiekie (plant)
''Freycinetia banksii'', also known as kiekie, is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber native to New Zealand. It is a member of the screwpalm family Pandanaceae. Description ''Freycinetia banksii'' is a densely branched woody climber, with numerous cane-like stems up to in diameter, which freely produce aerial roots. It climbs tree trunks, or forms dense tangles on the forest floor. Its stems and leaves are a dominant feature in many areas of New Zealand forest, the stems eventually reaching up to long. The leaves are long and slender, long and broad. The plant has white edible flower bracts and long pineapple-like fruit with rough skin and a sweet pink pulp. Taxonomy and etymology The species was first described in 1837 by Allan Cunningham (botanist), Allan Cunningham Cunningham named the species after Joseph Banks, the botanist aboard the First voyage of James Cook to New Zealand. In 1973, B.C. Stone argued that ''F. banksii'' should be regarded as a subspecies of ...
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Kohekohe
Kohekohe (''Didymocheton spectabilis'') is a medium-sized tree in the Meliaceae family, native to New Zealand. It is found in lowland and coastal forests throughout most of the North Island and also occurs in the Marlborough Sounds in the north of the South Island. Mature trees grow up to in height, with a trunk up to a metre in diameter. The name ''kohekohe'' is derived from Proto-Polynesian language, Proto-Polynesian *''kofe'' meaning a type of bamboo (''Schizostachyum glaucifolium, ʻohe''); its thickening leaf stem bases may have reminded early Polynesian settlers to those of the ''ʻohe''. A fairly close relative of true mahogany (''Swietenia''), it is also called New Zealand mahogany, because its wood is light, strong and polishes to a fine red colour. Kohekohe is notable for having characteristics normally associated with trees growing in the tropics, for example, its flowers and fruit grow directly from the trunk or branches (known as cauliflory), and it has large, ...
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Waiau Toa / Clarence River
The Clarence River (; officially Waiau Toa / Clarence River) is a major river which flows through the Kaikōura Ranges in the northeast of New Zealand's South Island. At roughly long, it is the longest river in Canterbury and the eighth longest in New Zealand. For its first , the river runs in a generally southeastern direction. It then turns northeast, running down a long straight valley between the Inland and Seaward Kaikōura Ranges. At the end of the Seaward Kaikōuras, the river meanders through undulating hill country before draining into the Pacific Ocean near the town of Clarence. A large part of the river is within the boundaries of Molesworth Station. The river and its tributaries cut through rock formed on the seafloor of the Pacific during the late Cretaceous through to the middle Eocene, during which period the majority of New Zealand was at points almost entirely submerged. This provides a useful record of this time period, and has contributed to our understa ...
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Maungakiekie
Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill is a volcanic peak and Tūpuna Maunga (ancestral mountain) in Auckland, New Zealand. It is an important place culturally and archeologically for both Māori and . The suburb around the base of the hill is also called One Tree Hill. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Royal Oak to the west, and clockwise, Epsom, Greenlane, Oranga, and Onehunga. The summit provides views across the Auckland area, and allows visitors to see both of Auckland's harbours. The scoria cones of the hill were erupted from three craters – one is intact and two have been breached by lava flows that rafted away part of the side of the scoria cone. Lava flows went in all directions, many towards Onehunga, covering an area of , making it the second largest (in area covered) of the Auckland volcanic field, behind Rangitoto Island. The volcano erupted approximately 67,000 years ago. History Tāmaki Māori history In pre-European times, Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill was the ...
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Tāwharanui Peninsula
Tāwharanui Peninsula is a finger of land projecting into the Hauraki Gulf from the east coast of the much larger North Auckland Peninsula of New Zealand. It separates Ōmaha Bay to the north from Kawau Bay and Kawau Island to the south. The nearest sizable town is Warkworth. Tāwharanui Regional Park covers 588 hectares of the peninsula's land and Tāwharanui Marine Reserve covers the northern coastal sea. Both are administered by Auckland CouncilTāwharanui Marine Reserve
Department of Conservation.
which also owns the regional park. Geologically the peninsula consists of Waitemata Sandstone on top of folded and uplifted .
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Kete (basket)
Kete are traditional baskets made and used by New Zealand's Māori people. They are traditionally woven from the leaves of New Zealand flax called Phormium tenax, harakeke and have two handles at the top. Other materials are sometimes used, including Carex, sedge grass or the leaves of the nikau palm and Cabbage tree (New Zealand), cabbage tree. Modern designs may also use dyed materials. Some kete, known as ''kete whakairo'', or "patterned bag", feature intricate geometric patterns, while more everyday baskets are known as ''kete mahi'' or simply ''kete.'' Uses Kete may be of many sizes but are most often found in sizes similar to large handbags. They can be used to carry a variety of things, including food. Specialized kete were woven for each item that needed storage, resulting in dozens of specialized styles. Very small kete also exist, and can be used as gift containers. Traditionally, kete were given away following their completion. Kete have also been used to bury plac ...
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Tukutuku
Tukutuku panelling is a distinctive art form of the Māori people of New Zealand, a traditional latticework used to decorate meeting houses (wharenui). Other names are Tuitui and Arapaki. Tukutuku flank the posts around the edge of the wharenui; the posts are usually carved and represent ancestors. The patterns of tukutuku have symbolic meanings. Tukutuku are made with various materials. One description is vertical rods of toetoe stalks, with wooden slats across. These slats are held in place with knotting or weaving that forms a decorative pattern. The materials for this weaving are narrow strips of kiekie or harakeke, some died black and the coastal plant pingao as yellow colour. The traditional skills of tukutuku are held mostly within the Māori women weaving community alongside other Māori traditional weaving techniques as the skills of whakaīro (carving) are mostly held within the Māori men carving community. Tukutuku for a wharenui are designed alongside the ...
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New Zealand Flax
New Zealand flax describes the common New Zealand perennial plants ''Phormium tenax'' and '' Phormium colensoi'', known by the Māori names ''harakeke'' and ''wharariki'' respectively. Although given the common name 'flax' they are quite distinct from the Northern Hemisphere plant known as flax (''Linum usitatissimum''). ''P. tenax'' occurs naturally in New Zealand and Norfolk Island, while ''P. colensoi'' is endemic to New Zealand. They have played an important part in the cultural and economic history of New Zealand for both the Māori people (who adapted earlier Polynesian traditions of pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified ... weaving otherwise unproductive in a colder climate) and the later European settlers. Both species and their cultivars have now bee ...
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Polynesian Rat
The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), or , is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. Contrary to its vernacular name, the Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, and like its relatives has become widespread, migrating to most of Polynesia, including New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii. It shares high adaptability with other rat species extending to many environments, from grasslands to forests. It is also closely associated with humans, who provide easy access to food. It has become a major pest in most areas of its distribution. Description The Polynesian rat is similar in appearance to other rats, such as the black rat and the brown rat. It has large, round ears, a pointed snout, black/brown hair with a lighter belly, and comparatively small feet. It has a thin, long body, reaching up to in length from the nose to the base of the tail, making it slightly smaller than other human-associ ...
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Tāne
In Māori mythology, Tāne (also called Tāne-mahuta, Tāne-nui-a-Rangi, Tāne-te-waiora and several other names) is the god of forests and of birds, and the son of Rangi and Papa, Ranginui and Rangi and Papa, Papatūānuku, the sky father and the Earth goddess, earth mother, who used to lie in a tight embrace where their many children lived in the darkness between them (Grey 1956:2). On Tahiti, Tane was the god of peace and beauty. Separates his parents The children of Rangi and Papa grew frustrated at their confinement in the cramped space between their parents. Tūmatauenga, Tū, future god of war, proposes that they should kill their parents. But Tāne (or Tāne-mahuta) disagrees, suggesting that it is better to separate them, sending Rangi into the sky and leaving Papa below to care for them. Tāne's brothers Rongo, then Tangaroa, Haumia-tiketike and Tū all try in vain to separate the parents. After many tries, Tāne lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs, and f ...
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Phormium Tenax
''Phormium tenax'' (called flax in New Zealand English; in Māori language, Māori; New Zealand flax outside New Zealand; and New Zealand hemp in historical nautical contexts) is an evergreen perennial plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island that is an important fiber, fibre plant and a popular ornamental plant.Roger Holmes and Lance Walheim. 2005. ''California Home Landscaping'', Creative Homeowner Press The plant grows as a clump of long, straplike leaves, up to two metres long, from which arises a much taller flowering shoot, with dramatic yellow or red flowers. Despite being commonly known as 'flax', harakeke is of the genus ''Phormium'', a monocot, and is a leaf fibre, whereas flax (linen) is of the genus ''Linum'', a rosid, and is a bast fibre (which comes from the stem of the plant). The two plants have an evolutionary extremely distant relationship with each other. The fibre has been widely used since the arrival of Māori people, Māori to New Zealand, origin ...
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Ngāi Tūhoe
Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori people, Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning 'steep' or 'high noon'. Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet ''Nga Tamariki o te Kohu'' ('the children of the mist'). Tūhoe traditional land is at Te Urewera (the former Te Urewera National Park) in the eastern North Island, a steep, heavily forested area which includes Lake Waikaremoana. Tūhoe traditionally relied on the forest for their needs. The tribe had its main centres of population in the small mountain valleys of Ahikereru and Ruatāhuna, with Maungapohatu, the inner sanctum of the Urewera, as their sacred mountain. The Tūhoe country had a great reputation among the neighbouring tribes as a graveyard for invading forces. Tūhoe people have a reputation for their continued strong adherence to Māori identity and for their unbroken use of the Māori language, which 6 ...
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Māori Culture
Māori culture () is the customs, cultural practices, and beliefs of the Māori people of New Zealand. It originated from, and is still part of, Polynesians, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of Culture of New Zealand, New Zealand culture and, due to a large diaspora and the incorporation of Māori motifs into popular culture, it is found throughout the world. Within Māoridom, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole, the word is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori culture, the Māori language, Māori-language suffix being roughly equivalent to the qualitative noun-ending ''-ness'' in English. has also been translated as "[a] Māori way of life." The term , meaning the guiding beliefs and principles which act as a base or foundation for behaviour, is also widely used to refer to Māori cultural values. Four distinct but overlapping cultural eras have contributed Māori history, historically to Māori culture: * b ...
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