Maori name for the New Zealand tree, Elaeocarpus dentatus, Vahl., N.O. Tiliaceae.
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,'vol. ii. p. 317:
«Another export was much talked of. This was the bark of thehinau, a large forest tree which abounds all over the countrynear Cook's Strait. The natives extract from this bark theblack dye for their mats.»
1873. `Catalogue of Vienna Exhibition':
«Hinau – – a white wood used for turner's work.»
Ibid.:
«The natives produce the black dye for their flax-work, forwhich purpose the bark is first bruised and boiled for a shorttime. When cold the flax is put into the mixture . . . it isthen steeped thoroughly for two days in red swamp mud, rich inperoxide of iron.»
1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 130:
«Hinau, a small tree about fifty feet high and eighteen inchesthick in stem, with brown bark which yields a permanentblue-black dye, used for tanning . . . used by Maoris forcolouring mats and baskets. Wood a yellowish brown colour andclose-grained; very durable for fencing and piles.»