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Introduction
The Ponga in Traditional Maori Poetry and Proverbs
A note on the taxonomy of Tree Fern species
Gallery
This name in Māori is the primary one for the tree fern Alsophila tricolor (known for over a century as Cyathea dealbata), stylized representations of its frond constituting, along with the kiwi, the most widely used symbol of New Zealand identity. In English it is also called the "silver fern" because of the silvery-white underside of the fronds, and the original Latin specific name, dealbata, meaning "whitewashed" was very appropriate in this respect, but unfortunately unavailable when the generic name was changed. The Māori name, often mispronounced as if it were "panga" ("punga" in English orthography) is also the generic word for tree ferns in New Zealand English, an interesting reversion to what may have been the source word's original meaning in Proto Polynesian, or perhaps an indication that this was indeed also a subsidiary meaning in Māori.
R&W, drawing on Beever, list katōte (one of the names for a related species, Alsophila smithii)
as a synonym for ponga, and ponga as being also an alternative name for Alsophila cunninghamii, otherwise known as pūnui. These usages are not recorded in Williams, and are probably local variants for the more widely-used names.
Like other members of the Cyathea family, the stipes and raches (stalks and midribs) of ponga fronds are covered with small scales, in contrast with the hairs characteristic of the Dicksonia species (e.g. the whekī), the other group of New Zealand tree ferns. As illustrated in the photographs below, the bottom portion of the stipes remain on the trunk after the rest of the old fronds fall off, and there is often a circle of old fronds still clinging to the top of the trunk below the fresh growth.
(The trees in the photograph are about ten years old, with trunks around 2 metres high.)
The species is endemic to New Zealand, and grows to about 10 metres high; it prefers open dryish forest and shrubland, and is one of a small group of native plants that will grow happily in pine forests. It is at its best in sheltered situations, as regular exposure to wind usually plays havoc with
its otherwise highly decorative fronds.
Ancestors of both the Cyathea family and the Dicksonias (the whekī and its relatives) were present in Aotearoa when it diverged from Australia 80 million years ago. Modern ferns are not necessarily the direct descendents of the Gondwana species -- some of those may have become extinct when much of Aotearoa was submerged when sea levels rose some 30 million years ago (the Oligocene drowning) and re-established when estwhile related species were blown back by wind or carried here by sea currents when the country started to re-emerge about 25 million years ago. Since then, tree ferns have once more become an important part of the forest -- they can cover half the spatial area of a forest, account for a fifth of the biomass, and in regenerating forests persist for very long periods because of their ability to shade out tree and shrub seedlings. James Brock and associates (2016) found that they flourish particularly well in phosphorus-rich soils. Alsophila tricolor (ponga) and other Alsophilas are more shade-tolerant and therefore persist longer than the mamaku (Sphaeropteris medullaris) -- even though the latter is much faster growing, it also needs plenty of light and will disappear when the canopy closes over it.
The ponga in Māori proverbs and poetry
Elsdon Best (Forest Lore, p.95) mentions having been told by an East Coast kaumatua that ponga was used as a food, cooked for two days with tï. He was rather sceptical about this, and speculated (I think correctly) that his informant was using "ponga" as a generic term for tree ferns, and actually referring to the mamaku (Sphaeropteris medullaris), which was actually used quite often for food (as, in emergencies, was the kātote, Alsophila smithii). It is quite possible of course that when absolutely nothing else was available the bitter pith of the ponga might have been used as a last resort -- a line in the tewha (work song) Best's informant gave him seems to emphasise this: He ponga te kai tao ngata mā te mahi [Ponga, dry baked food for work]. The only proverbial saying I could locate referring directly to ponga also seems to emphasise its role as a food of last resort:
Tara-ao tātā ponga
["Tara-ao who broke the ponga into pieces". M&G 2233].
It refers back to a story about an internecine feud between brothers, one of whom, Tara-ao, escaped through a tunnel from his fortress when it was about to be overwhelmed, and had to make do with the most meagre fare in order to survive.
However, in Ngā Mōteatea, the sole reference to ponga, in what seems to be a quote from an old karakia (incantatory formula) at the end of the classical oriori (didactic lullaby) Pinepine te kura, does group ponga with two other ferns which were relatively important sources of food, the mamaku (Sphaeropteris medullaris) and the pananehu -- the young shoots of the rauaruhe (Pteridium esculentum):
Tāia te waka nui, ka kai ki te kirikiri,
Ka kai ki te ponga,
Ka kai ki te mamaku
Ka kai ki te ngārara whakawai
Ka kai ki te pananehu,
E tama ē!
[Now haul the big canoe until it drags upon the sands,
Let it rest upon the ponga
Let it rest upon the mamaku
Let it rest upon teeming insects
Let it rest upon the pananehu
Oh son of mine! NM 215, Vol 3, pp.78-81]
The notes to the text of the song do not indicate the precise significance of these lines. However, a very interesting explanation of the way they have been used in the chant is given by John Archer, on the page for Pinepine te Kura on his New Zealand Folk Song Website. In his view, it is a reiteration of earlier memories of the departure of the migratory waka from Hawaiki, now in the oriori a reminder to the descendents of Tūpurupuru, a Ngati Kahungunu rangatira, to include seafood in their diet, however meagre, and thus avoid the debilitating effects of their inland habitat, reinterpreting the coded message in the line "Tāia te waka nui, ka kai ki te kirikiri" as "but eventiually the great canoe will nibble at the sand". He elaborated on this in an email message to us:
I've figured out Pinepine finishes with by stating the belief that the two exit channels of Awa-rua harbour were the source of both bad and good things in Aotearoa. Then there follows a metaphorical example of each: first with a nightmare vision of the tribe's waka arriving from Awarua and them being almost annihilated, but eventually, in good time, (Tai-a = like the tide, not Toia = haul) things change for the better, as our famished tribe, still in the image of a waka, first nibble at sand where there are only tiny gritty crustaceans, then force down some bitter ponga pith, then the more palatable monkey-tail fronds, then delicious huhu grubs, and finally exquisitely steamed young greens full of vitamins: a long-winded but very expressive way of saying Ka Mate; Ka Ora!
The first word in the quoted verse, Taia, probably does not refer either to hauling or to the tide itself, but rather to the waka's being dashed (tāia) against the sand by the tide. And in that context the interpretation of the chant as a metaphorical account of the progression from hard times to better remains plausible. (The word pananehu, not translated in the Ngā Mōteatea volume, refers to the young fronds of the rauaruhe, the ancient equivalent of salad greens.)
A NOTE ON TAXONOMY OF TREE FERN SPECIES. Shortly after Te Māra Reo Kawerongo #3 was sent out in January 2023, a decision was made that the NZPCN database should adopt a revised taxonomy for these plants following the publication of several comprehensive DNA and taxonomic studies overseas. The New Zealand tree ferns formerly placed under Cyathea were reassigned to the re-established genera Sphaeropteris (C. medullaris) and Alsophila (all the rest -- with the former C. dealbata being re-named A. tricolor).
The main additional consequential changes required for this website are: the former Cyathea parksiae becomes Sphaeropteris parksiae; Cyathea truncata a.k.a. Alsophila truncata becomes Sphaeropteris truncata; Alsophila rugosula is merged with and replaced by Sphaeropteris lunulata; Cyathea decurrens becomes Alsophila decurrens; Cyathea affinis becomes Alsophila tahitensis; also Angiopteris commutata becomes Angiopteris evecta. The genus Cibotium is shifted from the Dixoniaceae to a separate family, Cibotiaceae. These changes will be made page by page where relevant as time permits.
The reasons for these changes not mentioned on this page are outlined in Te Māra Reo Kawerongo #3 and #4. It should also be noted that these changes are not universally regarded as necessary. If you search for the generic name Alsophila on the Atlas of Living Australia website, for example, you will get this message:
genus: Alsophila R.Br. (accepted name: Cyathea)
Similarly, the botanists at Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand) prefer to regard Cyathea as a single genus, with Alsophila, Sphaeropteris and Cyathea s.s. as subgenera or divisions of the larger grouping.
Gallery
Alsophila tricolor - Ponga
(Wellington Botanical Gardens)
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Alsophila tricolor - Ponga
(Showing persistent spent fronds. Te Māra Reo) |
Alsophila tricolor - Ponga (Te Māra Reo. The once luxuriant fronds
of this tree-fern were shredded by Cyclone Gabrielle, February 2023)
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Alsophila tricolor - Ponga
(Newly emerged Spring-growth fronds starting to unfurl. Te Māra Reo) |
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Alsophila tricolor - Ponga
(Underside of sterile frond. Te Māra Reo)
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Alsophila tricolor - Ponga
(Underside of fertile frond, showing sori (clusters of spore-cases). Te Māra Reo) |
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