FAMILY: Elaeocarpaceae Oleaster family

BOTANICAL NAME: Elaeocarpus hookerianus

MĀORI NAME: PŌKĀKĀ, hīnau-puka (Best 1899, 1908), whīnau puka, mahimahi (Williams 1971)

MEDICINAL: See Riley 1994 for information on medicinal uses of related plants elsewhere in the world.

DYES: Used, like hīnau, as mordant to make black dye. Process described in Best 1899. (See also White, from ms. in Dominion Museum, quoted in Aston 1918a; Colenso 1869a, 1882b ; Best 1908). Kiakia [sic] gathered from near Outram and soaked with the bark of pōkākā to dye it (Māori informant in Beattie 1920). Produces good firm leather (Kirk 1889)

DOMESTIC: ''The women put [pikao] in a waka.. in which kiripokaka (pokaka bark) was steeping. This was to soften the pikao for pleating (whatu).'' (Beattie 1994)

CHEMISTRY: References on tannin content in Cambie 1976. See also Kirk 1889, PlantsDetails.Aston 1918b.