toatoa

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

n. Maori name of New Zealand tree, Phyllocladus glauca, Carr., N.O. Coniferae.The Mountain Toatoa is P. alpinus, Hook.


1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.p. 120:

«The toa toa, a small tree which is much prized by the nativesfor walking-sticks, and only grows, they say, in theneighbourhood of Tonga Riro. The stick underneath the bark isof a bright red colour, which takes a fine polish.»