Arthropodium cirratum
Encyclopedia
Arthropodium cirratum is a species of herbaceous
perennial plant
s endemic
to New Zealand
, where it may once have been farmed. It is used for medicine as well as food, and has symbolic importance in traditional Māori
culture.
An attractive lily, with leaves 30–60 cm by 3–10 cm, the flower stalk often reaches one metre, and bears many white six-petalled flowers, in groups of two or three, each about 2 cm across. The stamens are tricoloured - purple and white, with yellow at the curled end. The roots are 2–3 cm wide. Often grown as an ornamental, but occurs naturally north of Greymouth
and Kaikoura
near the sea and, as the name suggests usually on rocks. The rhizomes are edible when cooked and can be found throughout the year.
The rhizomes were once eaten by the Māori after being cooked by hangi
. Colenso believed, for two reasons, that this plant was once cultivated by them: firstly, the plant grows much larger under cultivation than it usually does in the wild; and secondly it was often found near old deserted Māori homes and plantations. However, he lists it as only fourteenth in importance, in his list of eighteen kinds of wild vegetable food used by the Māori.
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
perennial plant
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
s endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where it may once have been farmed. It is used for medicine as well as food, and has symbolic importance in traditional Māori
Maori culture
Māori culture is the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, an Eastern Polynesian people, and forms a distinctive part of New Zealand culture. Within the Māori community, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole, the word Māoritanga is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori...
culture.
An attractive lily, with leaves 30–60 cm by 3–10 cm, the flower stalk often reaches one metre, and bears many white six-petalled flowers, in groups of two or three, each about 2 cm across. The stamens are tricoloured - purple and white, with yellow at the curled end. The roots are 2–3 cm wide. Often grown as an ornamental, but occurs naturally north of Greymouth
Greymouth
Greymouth is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is , which accounts for % of the West Coast's inhabitants...
and Kaikoura
Kaikoura
Kaikoura is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1 180 km north of Christchurch.Kaikoura became the first local authority to reach the Green Globe tourism certification standard....
near the sea and, as the name suggests usually on rocks. The rhizomes are edible when cooked and can be found throughout the year.
The rhizomes were once eaten by the Māori after being cooked by hangi
Hangi
Hāngi is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven still used for special occasions.To "lay a hāngi" or "put down a hāngi" involves digging a pit in the ground, heating stones in the pit with a large fire, placing baskets of food on top of the...
. Colenso believed, for two reasons, that this plant was once cultivated by them: firstly, the plant grows much larger under cultivation than it usually does in the wild; and secondly it was often found near old deserted Māori homes and plantations. However, he lists it as only fourteenth in importance, in his list of eighteen kinds of wild vegetable food used by the Māori.