mapau

n.

a Maori name for several New Zealandtrees; called also Mapou, and frequently corrupted bysettlers into Maple, by the law of Hobson-Jobson. Thename is applied to the following – – The Mapau – – Myrsine urvillei, De C., N.O. Myrsineae;sometimes called Red Mapau.

♣ Black M. – – Pittosporum tenuifolium, Banks and Sol., N.O. Pittosporeae; Maori name, Tawhiri.

♣ White M. – – Carpodetus serratus, Forst., N.O. Saxifrageae; Pittosporum eugenoides, A. Cunn.; Maori name, Tarata (q.v.); called also the Hedge-laurel (q.v.), Lemon-wood, and New Zealand Oak. See Oak.

The first of these trees ( Myrsine urvillei) is,according to Colenso, the only tree to which the Maoristhemselves give the name Mapau. The others areonly so called by the settlers.

1868. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. i.,`Essay on Botany of Otago,' p. 37:

«White Mapau, or Piripiri-whata ( Carpodetus serratus),an ornamental shrub-tree, with mottled-green leaves, and largecymose panicles of white flowers. . . . Red Mapau (MyrsineUrvillei), a small tree common at Dunedin. Wood dark red, veryastringent, used as fence stuff.»

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, p. 132:

«Tawiri, white-mapou, white-birch (of Auckland). A small tree,ten to thirty feet high; trunk unusually slender; branchesspreading in a fan-shaped manner, which makes it of veryornamental appearance; flower white, profusely produced.The wood is soft and tough.»

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 75:

«By the settlers it is frequently called `black mapou' onaccount of the colour of the bark. . . . With still lessexcuse it is sometimes called `black maple,' an obviouscorruption of the preceding.»