Nga Rangahau o te kawakawa

Nga Rangahau o te Kawakawa

Kua hoki kua peia te reira e, no te tuatahi ka haere te Māori ki Aotearoa, ko ratou te tipu 'Kawakawa' no te mea mohio ratou ko te tipu he whanaunga tata o Piper methysticum, te tipu i hanga nei e kava i roto i te pārūrū Kiwa. Heoi, i homai e ngā momo Piper hoki tupu i roto i te Moananui-pārūrū, he reira atu pea ratou noa tono te ingoa o te hunga tipu ki te momo Aotearoa. I roto i nga motu Kuki me nga Marquesas mo te tauira, mohiotia M.latifolium te rite 'Kavakava-atua'; i roto i te Samoa i huaina reira ko te 'Ava'ava-aitu'. M. latifolium Ko te tino rite i roto i te ahua ki nga momo Aotearoa, a kua whakamahia hoki i roto i te rongoā tuku iho i roto i te Kuki Airan

It has also been surmised that when Māori first came to New Zealand, they named the plant 'Kawakawa' because they recognised that the plant was a close relative of Piper methysticum, the plant from which kava is made in the tropical Pacific. However, given that Piper species also occur in tropical Polynesia, it is more likely they simply applied the name of those plants to the New Zealand variety. In the Cook Islands and the Marquesas for instance, M.latifolium is known as 'Kawakawa-atua'; in Samoa it is called 'Ava'ava-aitu'. M. latifolium is very similar in appearance to the New Zealand species, and is also used in traditional medicine in the Cook Islands.