Watch this space! This is a combination of two pages written in the prototype stage of this web site (Rarotongan/Maori *Angiangi 2009, and Māori Angiangi 2010), which have been transferred with minimal changes to the newer format. It is still therefore "under construction", but contains the essential linguistic and botanical information, along with other material. Updated text and more pictures will be added progressively as soon as time permits (new pages for plant names not yet discussed are being given priority). If you would like this page to be updated sooner than planned, please email a note to temaarareo at gmail.com.
 This name is shared by Rarotongan and New Zealand Māori, and in each language refers uniquely to a species of Coprosma. The New Zealand species, C. repens, is a very resilient tree or shrub occuring naturally in a wide variety of habitats in the North Island and the northern part of the South Island (see the pages for Naupata and Māmāngi - links in the panel above - for more information about this plant and its alternative names.)
Coprosma laevigata is endemic to the Cook Islands, where it also was widely distributed in Rarotonga but it is now "moderately endangered". It is a shrub which grows to about 4 metres high. Its closest relative among the coprosmas is a species endemic to the Kermadec Islands, C. acutifolia. See the Bishop Museum's Cook Island plant database (link below) for further information about the Rarotonga coprosma.
In Aotearoa it is one of the names for almost indestructable taupata, Coprosma repens. There is another New Zealand plant name synonymous with angiangi, referring to the Usnea lichens and other lichen and moss species (some illustrated below), but which probably has a different origin.
The other "Angiangi"
 Somewhat mysteriously, in New Zealand the name is also applied to a variety of lichen, referred to in Williams' dictionary and some other reference works (e.g. Murdoch Riley's Herbal) as Usnea barbata. This was a nineteenth century shorthand for Usnea ("Aaron's beard") species in general -- U. barbata is an old-world species that is not found in New Zealand. These lichens (and similar ones of the genus Ramalina) along with mosses with similar properties were used for wrapping and as an absorbent.
According to William Martin & John Child, the various species of Usnea are notoriously difficult even for botanists to distinguish. Two commonly encountered, easy to reach species (U. capillacea and U. arida) which probably qualify as angiangi, are illustrated here. However, David Galloway has identified Usnea angulata and Ramalina meridionalis as the species most likely to have been used extensively as absorbants and nappies -- both are rich in the antibiotic usneic acid, are strong, soft and pliable and can be washed and reused. The late Irihapeti Ramsden informed him that "angiangi was associated mainly with "women's conditions such as menstruation, childbirth, and as nappies" - the sorts of things that men didn't speak much about, hence the ambiguity associated with the term."
The moss Lembopyllum divulsum seems also to have been known as angiangi. This moss can be mistaken for Weymouthia mollis, which 'forms soft, pale green to fawn veils hanging from branches and twigs in wet forest' (Beever et al, 1992, p. 182). This is a softer moss than Lembophyllum, and perhaps better suited to use as a diaper or napkin. It can be very abundant. [Jessica Beever, pers com. to S. Scheele, July 2001]
The Māori name of the mosses and lichens is probably a reference to their fine texture (as in angiangi "fine (in texture), gentle (breeze)", and not a reflex of the earlier plant name *angiangi, which may belong only to the Coprosma species.
There is more information about Coprosma repens on the pages for naupata and māmangi (links above). Additional information and photographs of the Rarotongan angiangi C. laevigata, can be found in the Bishop Museum's Cook Islands Natural History Project database.
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