Waewae

Although this journal article is primarily a summary of plant profiles that we’ve added to the website over the preceding months, we’d rather kick off 2025 with a tangential foray into the naming of certain ferns and lycopods in Te Reo Māori.

Whilst researching for our latest plant profile (on the fern genus Sticherus), the use of ‘waewae’ and ‘tapuwae’ within Māori names for Sticherus cunninghamii, Gleichenia and Pseudodiphasium (syn. Lycopodium) volubile interested us greatly – on the basis that those terms translate as ‘foot’ or ‘footprint’.

It is easy to see how the fronds of Gleichenia spp. (one of which is shown below right, growing together with Palinhaea cernua) are comparable with the feet (waewae) of birds – specifically the feet of kākā, matuku (bittern) and kōtuku (white heron). The use of tapuwae (footprint) kōtuku for Sticherus cunninghamii is even more fascinating, considering that it alludes to the impression left by a kōtuku on soft ground (as opposed to the foot itself).

Waewae-koukou (Pseudodiphasium – syn., Lycopodium – volubile) serves to remind us of a lesser-known name for the ruru (morepork) – with ‘koukou’ serving as both a verb (to hoot) and a noun (ruru).

And thanks to a report from the Pahiatua Herald in 1930, we are now aware of the use of this attractive, wide-spreading (and evidently durable) lycopod for decorating the walls and ceilings of dance halls – where it would dry to an attractive pale tone and last for years.

Which eventually brings us to the subject at hand – recent additions to plant profiles on the O2 website. In addition to Sticherus, our native species of Gunnera now feature within the plant profiles (with a focus on G. monoica, pictured above right, and its Auckland populations in particular) along with native meadow grasses reclassified recently within Pentapogon.

A new profile on Libocedrus extends the range of native trees outlined within our profiles, whilst the fine-leaved northern shrub, Pittosporum pimeleoides subsp. pimeleoides (shown below in flower) brings the number of species that we have covered from this highly variable (and surprising) genus up to five.

A significant development that we have undertaken in 2024 involved the creation of a new section within the plant profiles that reflects our work on (and interest in) flowering bulbs and other geophytes.

At the time that we prepared the first of these, on Muscari and Iris, we benefitted from Logan’s extensive travels around the Mediterranean Basin early in 2024. This allows us to include habitat shots of species like Iris graminea; shown below, growing in Croatian woodlands.

Further profiles from the new section on geophytes include a rare species of Nerine, called N. pudica (below, left) and a genus that we are trialling extensively for our northern climate, Galanthus (below, right).

Amongst a range of new plant profiles planned for the early months of 2025, we will look further at a remarkable species of Cyrtanthus from eastern South Africa, C. obliquus, as well as a dolomite endemic from Golden Bay (Gingidia haematitica) and a wetland herb that has been a recurring theme over recent months – Mazus radicans.