Puriri

Puriri (Vitex lucens) is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand. The Māori name of this tree is puriri or sometimes kauere and the common names are puriri, New Zealand mahogany, or New Zealand teak.

The Māori used infusions from boiled leaves to bathe sprains and backache, as a remedy for ulcers, especially under the ear, and for sore throats. The infusion was also used to wash the body of the deceased to help preserve it. Puriri trees or groves were often tapu through their use as burial sites and puriri leaves were fashioned in to coronets or carried in the hand during a tangi (funeral).

Puriri timber is usually greenish dark-brown, but sometimes nearly black or streaked with yellow, it was often used for implements and structures requiring strength and durability. The Māori preferred other timbers to puriri as its cross-grain made for difficult carving, but puriri garden tools and weapons had a long life and legend has it that buckshot used to ricochet off puriri palisades. It was used in the construction of hinaki (eel traps) because it was one of the few timbers that would sink. Puriri was sometimes used to dye flax fibres yellow, the sawdust can produce intense yellow stains on concrete floors.

The text in this article excerpt is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Puriri”.