'234 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



where it is known to the natives as Kopi. It is common in 

 many places near the coast in the North Island, where it has 

 obviously been planted by the Maoris ; and it is also 

 .sometimes to be found along river-banks, being specially 

 plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Wanganui Eiver. In 

 the South Island it is rarer, though Kirk (Forest Flora, 

 p. 173) is scarcely right in calling it " very rare "as it grows 



Fig. 71. Karaka Grove. 



in great abundance along the coast-line north of Kaikoura in 

 the neighbourhood of old Maori settlements. 



The kernel of the orange-coloured, damson-shaped fruit was 

 one of the staple articles of diet of the Maori. Consequently, 

 the tree was much cultivated, and, as the young plants grow 

 readily from self-sown seeds in the shade of the old, the 

 karaka is very often to be found in groves. These groves, 

 according to Colenso, were strictly tapu. His account* of the 



* Trans. IV., p. 317. 



