The eighth month is called Kohi-tātea, Waru puāhaha or Te Waru patote.
The fruits are now set. The people eat of the first fruit. The food crops are scarce, just prior to harvest time.
At this time, in the forest, many of the edible fruits are set. As the month passes, the heat of the Sun increases and they ripen.
Karaka (Corynorcarpus laevigatus) has fruit that is orange when ripe, but the raw kernels inside are very poisonous. Kōwharawhara, (perching lily).has small ripe fruits in summwe.
Poroporo (Solanum aviculare) is not for the untrained. The unripe fruits are poisonous, but very ripe ones are edible. There is some fruit on the poroporo most of the year.
Pōhuehue, (Large-leaved Muehlenbeckia Muehlenbeckia australis) has a tiny black seed, sitting in a white or ice-coloured swollen flower in summer. The ice-coloured fruit that could eaten. Tāwiniwini, (snowberry,Gaultheria antipoda). Bears a red or white fruit summer and early autumn.
Coastal Rengarenga, (rock lily, Arthropodium cirratum) provided rhizomes that were cooked.
These eagerly awaited fruits are the first fruits of the forest. Until they are available, forest food is scarce and so the eighth month was sometimes spoken of as, Ko Rehua pona nui (big jointed Rehua) at this time (summer) the people got thinner, and their joints protruded, because food is scarce. The people have dried or stored Aruhe (fernroot, Pteris aquiline var. esculenta) and this became a very important source of carbohydrate.
Rehua (Antares) is spoken of as the summer star, almost as a personification of sun or summer heat; hence the saying, Kua tahu a Rehua (Rehua will cook) and Titiro to mata ki a Rehua, ki te mata kihai i kamo (Turn your eye to Rehua, to the eye that winked not), which refers to the unceasing glare of the Sun. The heat makes everyone feel drowsy and lazy, Ko Rehua whakaruhi tangata (Rehua the enervator of humanity).
In summer, as the Sun sets, and the cool of night descends, Autahi (Canopus) is one of the first stars to appear out of the twilight moving upward and away from the Sun. As he climbs he drags Te Punga (The Southern Cross) and the whole of Te Ika a Maui (The Milky Way) after him.
It is said that “all the larger stars sprang from Tawhirimatea. They are the grandchildren of Rangi. As each one attains maturity, Rangi takes it and nurses it. The first-born was Autahi. This was the person who turned the Milky Way aside, lest he enter it, for the Milky Way is noa (common, not tapu) and is called The Fish, The Fish of Maui (Te Ika a Maui). Autahi rises in the evening so as to avoid entering Te Ika a Maui.” (Best; Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori, page 42)
The children of Rehua are the birds of the forest, the fish in the rivers and sea that provided food for the people. Most birds were nesting and therefore under rahui (protective ban). However, there were some birds, eels and kai moana (seafood) available.
In the Waikato, around December and January, a small eel little longer than a forefinger known as kaka, was seen clinging to waterfalls. It was scooped up with a close woven basket like net. (Best; Fishing methods of the Maori, page 92).
January was also sometimes called rarangi tahi. It was the time that tui (Prosthemadera novaezelandiae), kaka (Nestor Meridionalis),and kereru (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae), gathered to feast on the sweet nectar of the rata. Kai te kaka i te wai kaihua ka kia he rarangi tahi (When the kaka is feeding on the wai kaihua (rata nectar) the flesh is sweet. Other birds are in poor condition in mid-summer.
The kereru and kaka were taken by means of both spear and mutu (foot snare). The tui, being smaller, was usually caught with the snare. When using the mutu snare, some rata blossoms were tied to the outer end of the snaring-perch to serve as a lure. The mutu was set in the head of the tree where the attractive blossoms are – not on the ground far below. The mutu was used in summer and early winter, when the birds were in good condition.
Trees on which birds are taken by means of the mutu method of snaring are called tutu, and the species usually used as tutu were the miro (Prumnopitys ferruginea), hinau (Eleaocrpus dentanus), maire Nestegis cunninghamii & N. lanceolata), kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydoides), tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa), rata (Metrosideros robusta & M. umbellate), matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia) and rimu (Dacrydium cupressium. (The mutu snare is also called tumu, peke, tekateka, tuke and Tuke a Maui).
The stars of Tautoru (Orion’s Belt) were also known as Tuke o Tautoru (the snare of Tautoru). Tautoru was very handsome person and an expert in the use of bird snares. Tautoru is visible in the evening throughout summer.
The kaka became fat when feeding on the honey in blossoms of the harakeke (flax,Phormium tenax) and were particularly good eating. I have seen the tui drunk from feeding on fermented harakeke nectar. While the birds are intoxicated, they would be quite easy to catch by hand. The kereru liked to feed on ripe berries of the tawa.
When the food became scarce, the kereru ate maire berries, or the leaves of the kowhai (Sophora microphylla), houhire (lacebark, Hoheria populnea) , hangehange (Maori privet, Geniostoma rupestre)and wharangi (Melicope ternate). At such a time the kereru was not taken as the birds were in poor condition and distasteful.
Lowland scrub and forest
In the full heat of summer, in the lowland bush, the red Kāmahi flowers (Weinmannia racemosa) hang in long finger like clusters. The heart shaped, many-holed Kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum) bears yellow-orange fruit, usually on the female trees. The berries of the kawakawa plant are sweet and juicy when ripe. They can be eaten fresh, cooked, or dried. The Rewarewa, (New Zealand Honeysuckle, Knightia excelsa) has finished flowering and is now developing long, rusty brown seed pods. Kānuka, (White Tea Tree, Kunzea ericoides) is covered in clusters of very fragrant, white flowers. Captain Cook and early settlers called mānuka/kahikātoa ‘tea tree’ because they used the green leaves to make a substitute for tea. They also brewed twigs from this plant with rimu to make beer. The Māpou (Mysine australis) has young, red stalks bearing very small, almost black fruit. The plant had a range of uses in Māori culture. Māpou tea was drunk as a general health tonic and to ease toothache and clean teeth.The flexible wood had many uses. Akeake (Dodonaea viscosa) has hop-like seed capsules 1.5 cm across with 2-3 wings, on its female trees. The hard timber is useful for mauls and clubs. Tarata, (Lemonwood, Pittosporum eugenoides) can be a bush or a tree depending on coanditions. It gives good shade and likes to grow where there is both sun and moisture. The leaves, when crushed release a pleasurable perfume. As summer progresses, it develops round, dark seeds capsules. which split in the heat to reveal sticky black seeds. Rōhutu (Neomyrtus pendunculata) is in flower, its white flowers, look like a miniature rātā flower, on a long slender flower stalk, glowimg in the shade. Tutu (Coriaria aborea) Swollen purple-black petals, hanging in long strings in summer and autumn. The seeds, when thy develop, are poisionous. In modern timea bush honey containing tutu has caused poisoning. Puka, shining broadleaf (Griselinia lucida) has dark purple fruit, 8 mm long (summer, autumn and winter), great for the birds, but not usually eaten by people. Horopito, (Pseudowintera axillaries & P. colorata) grows on the edge of the forest Its fruits orange-red or black fruit. The leaves ae extremely helpful for upset digestion and inflammation and it can help with coughs and colds by working as an expectorant – bringing up mucus. It was also used as a painkiller. In open spaces, or on the side of forest pathways, the tussock-like, NZ blueberry,(Dianella nigra) has fruit ranging from very pale blue-grey to deep blue or purple in summer but it is very poisonous and must not be eaten..
In the undergrowth there is plenty to impair passage; Tangles of Kareao, (supplejack, Ripogonum scandens) with its bright red fruit, round 8mm across, most of the year can completely impair passage in the bush.It is amazingly useful; Growing tips and berries eaten (bush asparagus) boiled root juice used for rheumatism, bowels, fever and skin rash. The canes are used for ladders to climb trees, cliffs and enemy defences and to make fishing baskets.
Ot in the open, Kamu, (Hook Grass, Uncinia uncinata) has seeds which catch on hair, clothes fishhook-like barb attached to it on a fine stalk that detaches easily. Piripiri, (Bidibid Acaena anserinfolia) has as a seed ball of green burrs, that turn reddish brown in summer and catch on any passing animal including humans.
Coastal plants
Pōhuehue, (wire vine, Muehlenbeckia compexia) Black, three-angled seed in a fleshy ice-coloured cup in summer. Loved by common copper caterpillar, berries are edible and said to be sweet and juicy.
Horokaka, (New Zealand ice plant, Disphyma australe) Effective sand dune catcher, Fruit like small, rather slimy, figs (most summer and early autumn). Maori ate the fruit when ripe (summer) and would squeeze out the juice from horokaka’s succulent leaves and apply it to boils and abscesses to reduce inflammation and draw out pus. The pants are very good at stabilizing sand dunes.
Houpara, (Coastal five finger, Pseudopanax lessonii) Small, black fruit, in loose clusters (all year) are edible. Houpara wasused by Māori for medicinal purposes,
Pinātoro, (Native Daphne, Pimelea prostrate) Small white fruit in summer are edible.
Whau, (corkwood, Entelea aborescens) Used wood for floats for fishing nets. Seed in large, bristly, brown seed capsules (summer). Seasoned trunks were also lashed together with supplejack to construct small rafts for hunting crayfish and the plant was of such value to Māori that in some places it was actively cultivated. The Māori name of Auckland’s dormant volcano Mt Eden is Maungawhau (Mountain of the Whau Tree). Leaves, heated in water, were made into a poultice for treating wounds and sores.
Punakura, (shore lobelia, Lobelia anceps) A groundcover with white or pale blue orchid-like flowers, lop-sided in summer
Mānawa, (mangrove, Avicennia marina ssp. australasica) In a fleshy yellow-green, apricot-shaped capsule in summer. The berries provide a useful food source for birds. Mānawa provide a nursery area in and is crucial to healthy fisheries.
Wharawhara (Astelia solandri) is anepiphyte. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and was traditionally used to make baskets . It colonises the larger trees./Throughout the year, it has yellowish-white flowers, on spreading fingers that are sweetly scented. These develop into small round fruit, translucent green to yellow or dull brown, that can be seen most of the year. The fruits of the astelias are edible, although those of some species are not particularly palatable, and they do not seem to have been an important food source for Māori