Uses for harakeke A poultice of the root can be used to treat intestinal parasites. Nov 25, 2019 · The Maori name for this plant is harakeke. Harakeke fibres are used by practitioners of the Māori craft of raranga/weaving to create kete/baskets, whāriki/floor mats and gorgeous kākahu/cloaks as well as taura/ropes. A report funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund identified numerous uses for flax to increase its abundance in the landscape including buffering or establishing corridors. Special flax plants were tended in a plantation (pā harakeke) and there were traditions about when and how they could be harvested. Woven garments incorporating harakeke were worn by most people. Rongoā healer Donna Kerridge gives us the low down on rich history of Māori medicine and the benefits of healing plants in Aotearoa. The harakeke blades were cut with a sharp hook, tied up in bundles, then lifted onto whatever form of transport the mill used. Flax was a valuable resource to Europeans during the 19th century because of its strength; one tall ship needed as much as 40 kms of rope so the demand for flax was huge. The harakeke fibre was used for ropes, fishing lines and net making. A bad cut was sewn up with flax fibre (muka). Over time, weavers selected and grew varieties with specific properties, such as extra white or glossy muka (fibre). Today, harakeke is used in soaps The ‘Kōhunga’ cultivar produced muka that Ngāti Maniapoto used for their finest cloaks. Cultural Use/Importance. Look for them: Harakeke can be seen in ZEALANDIA on Lake Road and in the wetlands area, flowering from late October through February. He is from Ngāi Tūhoe, and as a child was taught the traditional uses of plants by his elders. Mar 26, 2025 · Harakeke is native to New Zealand, Tasmania and Norfolk Island. In traditional Māori life, harakeke had great practical value. The roots are noted as being used for colds and headaches whereas the leaves are used for stomach trouble. Plants such as kawakawa, harakeke (flax), kōwhai and mānuka were all important for healing, and so was a belief in the spiritual causes of illness. Makomako (wineberry): boiled leaves are used for boils and burns. nz Harakeke is a prized plant in Māori culture and used for a multitude of purposes, particularly to produce fibre for clothing and woven garments such as mats and kete. Māori have many traditional uses for harakeke (Phormium tenax) such as the making of traps and fishing nets and the weaving of whāriki (mats) and kete (baskets). They grew many varieties for specific purposes – to produce clothing, fishing nets, bindings, baskets, and mats, and also to use in medicine. Flax root juice was routinely applied to wounds as a disinfectant. However, as with identifying many plants or animals it’s not that simple. Fibre provided bandages and dressings, and the butts and %PDF-1. Traditional Use of Harakeke. Strips of the long, green leaves were woven to make many everyday items including whāriki (floor mats), rourou and kono (food baskets), and kete (bags). Māori spun muka into thread and used it to weave warm clothes and make ropes, fishing nets and many other things. Whanganui tribes chose the ‘Ate’ cultivar for making eel nets and kete (baskets). • Always wash hands after handling harakeke The sap has a laxative effect • Use specific tools for harakeke – these tools are not to be used for kai / food • Very experienced weavers also suggest that collecting when its windy can produce leaves that aren’t as supple to weave with. The gel was used to treat wounds, abrasions, and cuts. They also used the whole leaves to weave baskets and mats. The raw gel inside Phormium tenax leaves can be applied to cuts, scratches and burns. Rongoā plants and their medicinal uses. Kawakawa leaves and bark were used for cuts and stomach pains. In this video, Tāwhao Tioke explains the uses of harakeke (flax), and notes that traditionally all plants in the bush had some medicinal use. Harakeke is an important plant used in weaving. The leaf base and rhizome were boiled and the liquid used as a laxative, the mashed butt as a poultice for boils, abscesses and wounds. The leaf could be used for slings or splinting. When they did, traditional use of harakeke plummeted almost overnight. As with most crops, commercial flax crops used to be planted in soil- and biodiversity-depleting rows, then cut away in its entirety. Today, on the marae However, the major use for harakeke was weaving. Māori used a range of traditional methods to deal with illness. Harakeke (New Zealand flax) is found throughout the country, is strong and versatile, and has always been the most widely used plant material for traditional weaving. Māori cherished harakeke and cultivated plants in special plantations, called pā harakeke. There are many varieties of each of these two species. Harakeke was – and is – one of the key medicinal species. Aug 16, 2024 · Alliance aimed at the sustainable revitalisation of the harakeke industry, wants to ensure this is achieved through regenerative land use and Māori tikanga. Early records identify a wide range of uses for harakeke, from treating constipation to healing burns and gunshot and bayonet wounds. If you take a sharp shell and scrape it along a flax leaf, you will remove the green flesh and be left with strong, white fibres called muka. Harakeke is also important for the production of textiles, for example, muka, a prepared flax fibre, is frequently used as the base for kākahu (clothing) or korowai (cloaks). Harakeke is not botanically a flax, despite the English name. Before European arrival, it was used by Māori for clothing, mats, baskets, ropes, nets and other products. History and usage. . There are two species – common flax and mountain flax. HARAKEKE A-TAAHUA While no longer essential for our very survival, it is hard to think of another plant that is more important to and symbolic of customary Māori life than harakeke (New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax), whether for medicinal uses or for creating the myriad of domestic items crucial to day-to-day living. Harakeke (flax) The sticky gum in flax is used as an external treatment for boils and wounds. See full list on doc. Harakeke leaves were used in binding broken bones and matted leaves were used as dressings. Flax—harakeke—was the fibre of Aotearoa before Europeans arrived with their fancy textiles. The sticky sap or gum that harakeke produces, was applied to boils and wounds and used for toothache. Kawakawa was used to make a steam bath. How Māori used flax. The plants at Payne’s Ford are all traditional Maori cultivars, selected for propagation on the basis of strength, softness, durability, colour and fibre content. [10] Harakeke is often seen in gardens, is used widely in landscaping projects and in wetland restoration plantings, and as shelter belts on farmland. The plant protects itself in the wind by May 7, 2023 · Harakeke has numerous traditional and hi-tech uses. Leaves woven for kākahu (clothing) could become, for example, a rain cape. Monique Ford / Stuff. Kawakawa. 1. The hard part of the leaf was used to splint a broken bone. To make kākaku (cloaks), weavers extracted and processed the inner fibre of harakeke, called muka. Harakeke. Rongoā – medicinal use of plants by Rhys Jones. It also has medicinal properties. Harvesting. Harakeke also had many Rongoa (medicinal) uses. The leaves can be wrapped around wounds like a bandage. It evolved only on Aotearoa-New Zealand and perhaps Norfolk Island. Leaves can be used as a dressing to aid healing, and the juice acts as a disinfectant for wounds. Manuka, Kanuka (red tea tree, white tea tree): a poultice made of seeds is applied to wounds; the oil is used as antiseptic; the gum applied to burns and wounds. Mahoe (whiteywood): the inner bark is used for burns; boiled leaves are used for scabies. up close to a harakeke swamp, and on the banks of a river or stream as the process used lots of water. govt. 4 %âãÏÓ 7 0 obj /AIS false /BM /Normal /CA 1 /OP false /OPM 1 /SA true /SMask /None /Type /ExtGState /ca 1 /op false >> endobj 8 0 obj /AIS false /BM /Normal /CA 1 /OP false /OPM 1 /SA false /SMask /None /Type /ExtGState /ca 1 /op false >> endobj 12 0 obj /Ordering (Identity) /Registry (Adobe) /Supplement 0 >> endobj 14 0 obj /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 35 >> stream H‰š Ëöö÷ Flax leaves were used in binding broken bones and matted leaves were used as dressings. Narrow strips of leaves were used for decorative tukutuku panels. Harakeke is quite a unique looking plant that actually comes in quite a few varieties. The harakeke leaf can be stripped into strands to be woven into kete (baskets) and whāriki (mats) using traditional weaving and plaiting (raranga) techniques, including warp and weft. New Zealand flax was one of the most commonly used fibres for weaving prior to European contact in New Zealand, due to its wide availability and long strands. For more information go to the Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research website. Harakeke is said to be native also to Norfolk Island, though may have been introduced by Māori. Using harakeke (flax) Flax leaves or roots were made into pulp, heated and put on skin infections such as boils. Harakeke root juice was routinely applied to wounds as a disinfectant. [ 8 ] Chemical analysis shows the antifungal, anti-inflammatory drug, [ 9 ] musizin, and laxative anthraquinones are in common and mountain flaxes. Rongoā rākau are used to treat a range of conditions, such as aches and pain, infections, colds, coughs and diarrhoea. The karare, which is like the flower stalk in the plant, could be used to splint broken bones. The plant was seen as nectar to use as a sweetener for foods such as the root of bracken fern. [10] Harakeke can be woven raw to create open-weave items (where the para or the waterproof epidermis of the plant is kept intact), or processed so only the muka remains, for close-weave objects. Harakeke was prized by Māori and used for a multitude of purposes. Today rongoā – Māori medicine – is seeing a resurgence of interest. The working conditions in the swamp were hard – wet and cold in the winter and hot in the summer. The following are some examples of the more than 200 plants used: Harakeke (flax) gel can help with burns, boils and cuts. Harakeke is used as bandages and can secure broken bones much as plaster is used today. fjnbtf tutbq argzhxdbg scehsix dmkf xuhrxwz vjnnl bozykx jlgtpxd wre kksdsz vvjjb gaozt ydyvhm rhazqt