Walsh. — On the Occurrence of Cordyline terminalis. 303 



or fifty years ago it was to be found in many of the native 

 settlements about that district. He was quite familiar with 

 the cooked article, as the Maori nurses and other retainers of 

 the mission families used often to bring small quantities as 

 presents to the children. His attention was first drawn to the 

 growing plant about thirty-five years ago by a Maori youth 

 with whom he was out cattle-hunting, who pointed out some 

 three or four specimens in an enclosure at the settlement of 

 Te Matire, near Lake Omapere, informing him at the same 

 time that " That was the ti which the Maoris cultivated for 

 food." Mr. Clarke recognised my plants as being identical 

 with these. This information was corroborated by the Maoris 



— Hone Peti, Heremaia Pirika, and Miriam all of whom 



identified the plant from my specimens, and gave me a good 

 deal of information about its habits and uses, from which I 

 have been able to construct the following account : — 



The plant was known among the Maoris as the " ti pore," 

 and was one of two varieties of Cordyline used for food, the 

 other, the G. pumilio, being called the " ti rauriki " (= small 

 or narrow -leaved). The former — viz., that under considera- 

 tion — was only found in cultivation, while the latter is largely 

 distributed in a wild state. The signification of the name is 

 uncertain. The qualification " pore " literally means " cut off 

 close," as in the case of short-cropped hair, and may have 

 reference to the practice of cutting off the top to propagate the 

 plant ; or possibly it may have been used to distinguish this 

 from the taller or true varieties. Within the memory of living 

 men the ti pore was grown in most of the settlements about 

 the north, though probably from the fact that it was a slow- 

 growing plant, taking several years to mature, and at best 

 yielding but a comparatively small return, it was never culti- 

 vated in very large quantities. 



In appearance and habit the ti pore is quite distinct from 

 any other species of Cordyline found in New Zealand. A 

 short slender stem, with a tolerably smooth bark, showing a 

 ring for every leaf fallen off, is surmounted by a handsome 

 head of soft glossy leaves, from \.\ ft. to 2 ft. long by 3 in. or 

 4 in. wide, each leaf being set on a fine stalk and bending 

 over in a graceful curve. In older and well-grown plants the 

 trunk forks off about 3 ft. or 4 ft. from the ground, and the top 

 divides into several heads. This, I am informed, is the case 

 with one of Mr. Reid's specimens at Ahipara, and the same 

 thing may be observed in the Sydney and Brisbane botanical 

 gardens on those obtained from the Polynesian islands. The 

 root was by far the most important part of the plant from the 

 Maori point of view. It is a mass of greenish-white pulpy 

 fibre, of such a consistency as to be easily cut through with a 

 sharp spade. In shape it is a very elongated cone, with an 



