maori-head

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


a swamp tussock, so called froma fancied resemblance to the head of a Maori. (Compare Black-boy.) It is not a grass, but a sedge( carex).

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 169:

«A boggy creek that oozed sluggishly through rich black soil,amongst tall raupo, maori-heads, and huge flax-bushes.»

1892. W. McHutcheson, `Camp Life in Fiordland,' p. 34:

«Amid the ooze and slime rose a rank growth of `Maori heads.'»

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