FAMILY: Podocarpaceae

BOTANICAL NAME: Podocarpus hallii. Podocarpus cunninghamii preferred by some sources as an earlier, legitimate name.

MĀORI NAME: tōtara-kiri-kōtukutuku (Colenso 1884: 58), tōtara kōtukutuku (Best 1942), raunui

COMMON NAME: Hall's Totara

DESCRIPTION: In Colenso 1884, 58: '' ... on my way down the mountain from the summit, I discovered a plant which I believed to be a new species of Podocarpus, and therefore named it P. cunninghamii .... Its bark, too, was semi-papery, more like that of some large specimens of Fuchsia excorticata, and not at all resembling the bark of P. Totara..... The natives call it Totara-kiri-kotukutuku''

And in a footnote: ''I find this Maori name is given in the ''Handbook'' Index to Libocedrus Doniana, but I scarcely think any old Native would call a Libocedrus a Totara, the foliage in the two genera being so very different. The maori name for it, (like many other of their proper names,) is fit and expressive; lit. - Fuchsia-barked Totara.''

DOMESTIC: Inner layers used for packing muttonbird (Kirk 1889).

FISHING AND HUNTING: The Whanganui natives state that tōtara kōtukutuku is the tree most approved of by canoe makers because it is not so straight grained and free-splitting (Best 1942).