tara

n.

1) Maori name for the birds Sterna caspia, Pallas, and S. frontalis,Gray, the Sea-Swallow, or Tern (q.v.).

2) A Tasmanian aboriginal name for the fern Pterisaquilina, L., N.O. Polypodeae.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 129:

«The most extensively diffused eatable roots of Van Diemen'sLand are those of the tara fern . . . greatly resembles Pteris aquilina, the common fern, brake, breckon,or brackin, of England . . . it is known among the aboriginesby the name of tara . . . the root of the tara fern possessesmuch nutritive matter.»