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As a plant name, the word root ake has a single referent in Aotearoa, the hardwood shrub or tree Dodonaea viscosa, a member of the tropical "soapberry" family, and botanically related to the titoki (Alectryon exelsum). It also makes its appearance twice as a tree name in Te Paipera Tapu. The reduplicated form, akeake, aso refers to two shrubs of the daisy family, noted separately below.
The name is probably of Proto-Polynesian origin -- certainly from East Polynesia; this is discussed further on the page for its Polynesian cognates (link at the top of this page).
Dodonaea viscosa, known as both ake and akeake in Māori, is a widely distributed species, occuring in the native floras of tropical, subtropical and warmer temperate regions in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. In Hawai'i it is known as 'a'ali'i, with the name a'e used for another species of the same family, and several other trees. Typically, it has long, narrow green leaves with a bright sheen, clearly marked veins, and wavy margins. There are also bronze and purple-leaved varieties.
The ake grows up to about 10 metres tall, with narrow oval leaves up to about 10 cm long by 3 cm wide and with clearly marked veins. In New Zealand ake is often used as a hedge or shelter tree in seaside areas, and it occurs naturally in coastal and lowland forests throughout the North and Chatham Islands and as far south as Greymouth on the west and Banks Peninsula on the east in the South Island. The tiny greenish or yellowish male and female flowers are borne abundantly on separate trees, and the much more conspicuous seed capsules are winged -- they vary in colour from yellow to reddish and appear in mid-March. - there is a good photograph of the winged seed capsule and some information about the tree on the "Bushman's Friend" website.
Although ake is supposed to a hardy and resilient tree, it is one of the few trees which has definitely not thrived in the language garden! It seems to be very attractive to leaf-chewing insects which feast on the leaves, and lichens colonize the branches and trunks. Ten years after they were planted, the few surviving trees (four of the 15 or so planted originally) while definitely alive, all looked as if they have seen much better days, with wiry multiple trunks supporting a thinned-out upwardly-branching canopy, since then they have vanished from the scene. In many seaside places ake/akeake is used for shelter in hedges, and if we had clipped our trees instead of leaving them to grow naturally they may have remained bushy. Ake is found among the local indigenous flora, in association with mānuka in scrubland on ridges in the Hakarimata Ranges, 2 or 3 kilometres away on the other side of the Waikato River, so the rather scraggly appearance of our specimens may possibly have been the way they were supposed to be -- looking at their Hawaiian namesakes maturing in similar environments, it may have been this somewhat skeletal appearance that attracted the name.
The hard, extremely durable wood was used by Māori for making bird spears and weapons, and the leaves were used for scenting oil. In many parts of the world this tree is used for various medicinal purposes, but in Aotearoa this does not seem to have been important; however it was one of the plants used in ceremonies for removing tapu.
Dodonaea viscosa is
also sometimes referred to as Akerautangi. Murdoch Riley (Herbal, p. 116) says that this refers to the rustling sound made by the dried leaves in the wind. Akerautangi was the child of Rurutangiakau, given to Tū, the war god, to fight Rongo, the god of peace and cultivated crops. Kahukura, another deity, dwells in the rough, red-brown shredded bark of the ake, and reports to Rongo on Akerautangi's doings. Appropriately, akerautangi is also a term for for a weapon made from ake wood. The tough, durable wood was also used for more peaceful purposes: staffs, staves, and, in the nineteenth century, mauls used by bushmen.
Akerautangi as a weapon is mentioned in a waiata attributed to Uri-kore of Ngāti Porou:
Nā te aha i tukituki te upoko o Tana-ki-te-kapua?
Nā te ake-rautangi, ē, maire matatū,
Te tama a Ruru-tangi-akau e tū i te wao.
What was it that crushed the head of Tama-ki-te-Kapua?
It was the ake-rautangi, and the enduring maire,
The forest-grown son of Ruru-tangi-akau.
(He Waiata Tautitotito, NM 225, 10-13.)
The explanatory notes to these lines by A.T. Ngata read:
Te tama a Ruru-tangi-akau. He kōrero whakarite mō te ake me te kahikātoa, mō ngā rākau o te riri. Ko Ruru-tangi-akau tētahi o nga atua o te ngahere.
The son of Ruru-tangi-akau. A personification for the ake (Dodonaea viscosa, a tree) the kahikātoa (Leptospermun scoparium, a tree, red mānuka) and for other (woods from which) weapons of war (were made). Ruru-tangi-akau was one of the (departmental) gods of the forest. (See TR 40/189)
The reference at the end of the note is to an article by Elsdon Best on Māori
forest lore in Volume 40 of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute (1909), which includes detailed information on the descent of various groups of tree from Tāne, and other matters.
Akeake
 " As a reduplicated (in this case, simply doubled) form of the word ake, akeake would originally have implied that what it referred to was an altered or unusual form of the original referent (whether this was a single plant or a group of them), or something that was reminiscent of it or had some of its qualities. Thus in Aotearoa it was quite appropriately an alternative name for the ake (Dodonaea viscosa), which was identical with its Rarotongan counterpart, but different the plant given that name in Tahiti and Hawai'i. The South Island akeake, Olearia avicenniaefolia, is quite clearly different in some important respects from the North Island ake -- the daisy-style flowers and much softer wood, for example -- but the leaves (illustrated om the left) and the plant itself from a distance (when not in flower) are sufficiently reminiscent of the ake to justify its being given a variation of that name.
The South Island akeake has beautifully scented flowers and leaves. It grows to about 5 metres tall, and is found throughout the South Island, and also on Stewart Island. Murdoch Riley notes that the aromatic gum extracted from the leaves by scorching them was infused in hot fat, and the product used to scent the hair and the body (Herbal, p. 125).
 Judging by the genetic evidence concerning the kiore (Southeast Asian rat), which accompanied the Polynesian explorers of their travels, the Chatham Islands were settled from the Marlborough Sounds in the South Island, so it is not surprising that there the name akeake was also applied to another tree daisy, Olearia traversiorum (formerly O. traversii, illustrated on the left), unique to the islands (see K.R. Howe, The Quest for Origins, p. 178). Although endemic to the islands, that tree is now widely grown as a shelter tree in other parts of New Zealand. Its leaves are more oval than attenuated, so while still quite reminiscent of O. avicenniaefolia, they are less like those of the Dodonaea. O. traversiorum is an extremely tough and resilient tree, growing to about 10 m. high.
Three other species of Olearia have "ake" included in their names in some districts. These are the akepiro ("scented ake"): O. furfuracea and O. paniculata, and the ake wharangi Olearia rani. Olearia furfuracea is a shrub or tree from the northern part of the North Island, growing to 5m high. Olearia paniculata, the "golden akeake", is a little taller, sometimes reaching 6m, growing naturally in shrubland and forest margins from the southern part of the North Island to the northern part of the South Island, as far as Westport and Oamaru.
The ake wharangi or heketara, Olearia rani, also has fragrant leaves used for scenting oils. According to Murdoch Riley (Herbal, p.139), this species is also used to make wreaths or "tokens of remembrance for the dead". An abundance of flowers on this tree in the Spring was a sign of a fine summer (and perhaps still is, climate change notwithstanding). The tree grows to about 7m tall, and is endemic to northern Taitokerau (from North Cape to the Bay of Islands). Like some other species of Olearia, it has been cultivated since soon after Polynesian settlement of Aotearoa, and is now found well beyond its native habitat.
Ake in Te Paipera Tapu
 Ake as a tree name makes two appearances in Te Paipera Tapu, in Isaiah 41:19 (reproduced below) and Isaiah 60:13 (quoted on the page for Rimu), translating the Hebrew term teashur. This is rendered as box tree in the King James version, probably because of the similarity of this obscure word to teshur, a term for something precious made from the wood of Buxus sempervirens, an evergreen tree which grows in the Galilean hills. It can reach 10m tall, with a slim trunk, yellowish-green narrow oval leaves and tiny, highly-scented flowers. It is widely distributed in Europe, especially the Mediterranean region (including parts of North Africa), and the Middle East. Its durable wood especially is especially suitable for fine craft work.
 The Hebrew word occurs in two verses from the book of Isaiah, one reproduced below; the other is on the page for Rimu (a tree from Aotearoa whose name also appears, for a different tree, in these verses). Scholars are still debating which tree the Hebrew text actually refers to; because of the references to forests, some think a more dominant tree such as a pine, cedar or even plane tree might have been referred to, and other English translations reflect this. However the translators working for King James may have chosen well, as the box tree is occasionally found in forests, although in the understory, and it is hardy and resilient enough to be a very suitable candidate for revegetating the wilderness. The translators of Te Paipera Tapu made a very appopriate choice in picking the ake for this role. As is often the case, the Samoan translators decided to stick with a suitably modified version of the Hebrew name.
Ka whakatokia e ahau te koraha ki te hita, ki te kōwhai, ki te ramarama, ki te rākau hinu; ka tū i ahau te kauri ki te titohea, te rimu, ratou tahi ano ko te ake. [PT, Ihaia 41:19]
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: [KJV]
I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together. NRSV
‘Ou te avatu i le lau‘ele‘ele lafulafuā le arasi,
ma le setima, ma le atasi, ma le la‘au e maua ai le suāu‘u.
‘Ou te tu‘uina atu fo‘i i le toafa o le perosi,
o le titara, fa‘atasi ma le tasura. [TP]
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