Cordyline pumilio
Encyclopedia
Cordyline pumilio, commonly known as the Dwarf cabbage tree, Pygmy cabbage tree or by its Māori
names Tī koraha or Tī rauriki, is a narrow-leaved monocot
shrub endemic to New Zealand
. It usually grows up to 1 metre (3 ft) tall, although rare examples of 2 metres tall have been reported. It has with long leaves and can easily be mistaken for a grass or a sedge. C. pumilio grows in the north of the North Island
from North Cape at 34°S to Kawhia and Opotiki at about 38°S, generally under light forest and scrub. It was cultivated by Māori as a source of carbohydrate and used as a relish to sweeten less palatable foods.
. Of the other species, the commonest are the common cabbage tree (C. australis), a tree up to 20 metres (66 ft) tall with a stout trunk and sword-like leaves, the forest cabbage tree (C. banksii
) which has a slender, sweeping trunk, and the mountain cabbage tree (C. indivisa
), a handsome plant with a trunk up to 8 metres high bearing a dense, rounded head of broad leaves 1 to 2 metres long. In the far north of New Zealand, C. pumilio is thought to have hybridised with C. australis.
The genus name Cordyline derives from an Ancient Greek
word for a club (kordyle), a reference to the enlarged underground stems or rhizome
s, and the species name pumilio is Latin for "dwarf". The common name Cabbage tree is attributed by some sources to early settlers having used the young leaves of related species as a substitute for cabbage.
The plant was well known to Māori, who cultivated it for its sugar-laden roots and stems before its discovery and naming by Europe
ans. The generic Māori language
term for plants in the Cordyline genus is Tī, and names recorded as specific to C. pumilio include tī koraha and tī rauriki.
appears in November or December and is up to 60cm by 30cm (2ft by 1ft), very open with slender axes, branched to the second order, with small white or bluish-white flowers irregularly scattered along the branches. The bract
s are often small and inconspicuous. The tepal
s are narrow, recurved and have three nerves. The stigma is short and trifid.
, requiring twelve to eighteen hours to cook. The cooked roots were chewed, or pounded and washed and squeezed to extract the sugar, which was eaten with fern root as a relish. Māori ranked the taste of the plant above tī kōuka (C. australis) and the other native species, but below tī pore (Cordyline fruticosa) which they brought with them from tropical Polynesia.
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
names Tī koraha or Tī rauriki, is a narrow-leaved monocot
Monocotyledon
Monocotyledons, also known as monocots, are one of two major groups of flowering plants that are traditionally recognized, the other being dicotyledons, or dicots. Monocot seedlings typically have one cotyledon , in contrast to the two cotyledons typical of dicots...
shrub endemic 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...
. It usually grows up to 1 metre (3 ft) tall, although rare examples of 2 metres tall have been reported. It has with long leaves and can easily be mistaken for a grass or a sedge. C. pumilio grows in the north of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
from North Cape at 34°S to Kawhia and Opotiki at about 38°S, generally under light forest and scrub. It was cultivated by Māori as a source of carbohydrate and used as a relish to sweeten less palatable foods.
Taxonomy
Cordyline pumilio is the smallest of New Zealand's five native species of CordylineCordyline
Cordyline is a genus of about 15 species of woody monocotyledonous flowering plants in family Asparagaceae, subfamily Lomandroideae. The subfamily has previously been treated as a separate family Laxmanniaceae, or Lomandraceae. Other authors have placed the genus in the Agavaceae...
. Of the other species, the commonest are the common cabbage tree (C. australis), a tree up to 20 metres (66 ft) tall with a stout trunk and sword-like leaves, the forest cabbage tree (C. banksii
Cordyline banksii
Cordyline banksii is a monocot tree endemic to New Zealand. The species name banksii refers to the 18th-century botanist Joseph Banks.-Distribution:...
) which has a slender, sweeping trunk, and the mountain cabbage tree (C. indivisa
Cordyline indivisa
Cordyline indivisa is a monocot tree endemic to New Zealand, where it has the common name Mountain cabbage tree. It is also known as the Broad-leaved cabbage tree, or Tōī.-Distribution:...
), a handsome plant with a trunk up to 8 metres high bearing a dense, rounded head of broad leaves 1 to 2 metres long. In the far north of New Zealand, C. pumilio is thought to have hybridised with C. australis.
The genus name Cordyline derives from an Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
word for a club (kordyle), a reference to the enlarged underground stems or rhizome
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
s, and the species name pumilio is Latin for "dwarf". The common name Cabbage tree is attributed by some sources to early settlers having used the young leaves of related species as a substitute for cabbage.
The plant was well known to Māori, who cultivated it for its sugar-laden roots and stems before its discovery and naming by Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans. The generic Māori language
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
term for plants in the Cordyline genus is Tī, and names recorded as specific to C. pumilio include tī koraha and tī rauriki.
Description
Cordyline pumilio is a plant rarely exceeding 2 metres (7ft) tall. It is a very narrow-leaved species, and does not develop into the large tree-like form of C. australis. It often flowers while its short stem is leafy to the ground. In older plants the bare part of stem is up to 1 metre (3ft) long and 1.5cm (less than an inch) wide, and not usually very erect. The leaves are 30cm to 1 metre (1-3ft)long and 1 to 2cm (up to an inch) wide, and may narrow above the base into a channelled petiole. The midrib is prominent abaxially, or at least proximally and the leaf margins are slightly recurved. The flower spike or paniclePanicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
appears in November or December and is up to 60cm by 30cm (2ft by 1ft), very open with slender axes, branched to the second order, with small white or bluish-white flowers irregularly scattered along the branches. The bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s are often small and inconspicuous. The tepal
Tepal
Tepals are elements of the perianth, or outer part of a flower, which include the petals or sepals. The term tepal is more often applied specifically when all segments of the perianth are of similar shape and color, or undifferentiated, which is called perigone...
s are narrow, recurved and have three nerves. The stigma is short and trifid.
Cultural use
Cordyline pumilio was cultivated by Māori in the Waikato district and elsewhere all over New Zealand. Young seedlings were carefully selected and planted out, and after perhaps three years the roots were dug up, stacked in small piles, and dried in the sun. As they dried, the fibrous roots were burned off, and then the roots were scraped and baked slowly in an umu or hāngiHangi
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...
, requiring twelve to eighteen hours to cook. The cooked roots were chewed, or pounded and washed and squeezed to extract the sugar, which was eaten with fern root as a relish. Māori ranked the taste of the plant above tī kōuka (C. australis) and the other native species, but below tī pore (Cordyline fruticosa) which they brought with them from tropical Polynesia.