Tetragonia tetragonioides < Species index > Urtica ferox
This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 96, # 7, August 2024
August in the hills with Michele Dickson, Chris Horne
Typha orientalis, Raupō, bulrush
Photo: Jeremy Rolfe
Origin of the botanical names
Typha, the old Greek name for bulrush, was probably derived from 'typhos' – a wetland; orientalis means 'eastern, of the Orient', from the Latin 'oriens' – to arise, the quarter of the rising sun. Raupō is Aotearoa's sole member of the Typhacaea family. It is native to Aotearoa but it is not endemic because it also occurs in Australia and South-East Asia.
Distribution and habitat
Raupō grows in swampy places on Rangitāhua / Kermadec Islands, Te Ika-a-Maui / North Island and Te Waipounamu / South Island. It occurs at one site on Rekohu / Chatham Island where it is believed to have been introduced.
Growth habit
Raupō, an aquatic plant, 1 -3 m tall, usually grows in large colonies in the shallow water in wetlands, swamps, ponds, ditches and lake edges. The rhizome – an underground, horizontally spreading stem - is 3-4 cm in diameter and usually submerged in fresh or brackish water. The leaf sheaths, often over 30 cm long, are green in summer, later becoming brown. The leaf blade is smooth, strap-like and thick. The leaves dying down in winter fall into the water and with silt the plant traps slowly raise the level of the ground they grow on up to the level of the surrounding water. Later they may be replaced by harakeke / swamp flax / Phormium tenax, toetoe / Austroderia toetoe and other species which grow in wetlands.
Reproduction
Raupō flowers from December to January, then fruits from April to May. The flower heads, high above the leaves, are 30 cm or more long and ca. 2.5 cm diameter. The female part is below the pointed male part which is narrower and either continuous with or separated from the female part. Large amounts of yellow pollen are released from the male parts. The female parts consist of masses of minute flowers enclosed by silky bristles. The tiny seeds, still enclosed by a woolly mass, eventually blow away in the wind.
Uses
Raupō pollen was collected to make bread called pungapunga, a vital source of food. The velvety ripe flowers were shaken to collect the pollen which was put into bags made of bark stripped from hīnau trees, then the bags placed in a hāngi / oven to be cooked. The seed heads were used as a wound dressing. The root stalk / rhizome was valued for its starch and sugar content. Raupō was used to make waka / small canoes and mōkihi / small rafts. Bundles of the reeds were tied together with flax … flat to make a raft … or on their sides turned up for a small boat. Raupō was valued for thatching whare / huts when covered with tōtara bark.
Where can you find raupō?
Look for it in e.g. Ōpau Valley, Mākara, Taupō Swamp beside SH59 north of Plimmerton and in Ngā Manu Nature Reserve, Waikanae.
In The Hills 2024-07 < Index chronological > In The Hills 2024-09