Rengarenga

Appearance

The leaves are 30–60 cm long and 3–10 cm wide. The flower stalk often reaches one metre, and bears many white six-petalled flowers, in groups of two or three, each about 2 cm across. The stamens are tricoloured - purple and white, with yellow at the curled end. The roots are 2–3 cm wide.

Naming

The Māori name "rengarenga" is a reduplication of Proto-Polynesian *"renga" which in other related languages corresponds to turmeric, especially its powdered form; this association is due to both plants' similar stem and root characteristics.

Habitat

It occurs naturally north of Greymouth and Kaikōura near the sea and, as the name suggests, usually on rocks.

Uses

It is often grown as an ornamental plant. The rhizomes are edible when cooked and can be found throughout the year. The rhizomes were once eaten by the Māori after being cooked in a hāngī. William Colenso believed, for two reasons, that this plant was once cultivated by them: firstly, the plant grows much larger under cultivation than it usually does in the wild; and secondly it was often found near old deserted Māori homes and plantations. However, he lists it as only fourteenth in importance, in his list of eighteen kinds of wild vegetable food used by the Māori.