Introduction
Nonu, Noni, Nono - Morinda citrifolia
Nonokia, Nonorangi, Tainui - Pomaderris apetala ssp. maritima
The three names of the tropical plant almost certainly have a common origin; the Pollex database lists *Noni as the primary variant, as it does occur also in Fiji. However, the most common name for the tree in Fiji is kura, from the red dye obtained from the bark. The name Noni is otherwise confined to Northeastern Polynesia, and could have found its way to Fiji from the Marquesas. I am inclined to agree with Art Whistler (Plants of the Canoe People, p. 148) that the original Polynesian name was probably *nonu, still the name used in Samoa, Tonga and Niue, with the other variants developing later. Their counterpart in Aotearoa is a doubtful match as it is embedded in two copound words and the shrub they refer to seems to have little in common with its tropical counterpart. However, there are some possible links, so the possibility that the "nono" in nonokia and nonorangi is a reflex of Proto-Polynesian *nonu should not be ruled out.
The "Tahitian Noni", Morinda citrifolia
 The Nonu is a shrub or small tree native to Southeast Asia, possibly as far as Western Polynesia or even further afield -- Art Whistler places it as one of the "plants of the Canoe People", introduced to Polynesia by the early explorers, but W. R. Sykes in Flora of the Cook Islands (p. 819) notes that throughout the Cooks, as well as to regions to the east and west of the group, "ecologically it has every appearance of being indigenous". It is naturally a coastal plant, favouring open coastal areas, lava fields and lowland forests, and grows on atolls as well as high islands, until recently occasionally cultivated but mostly wild.
The tree can grow up to 10 metres high, although it is usually much shorter, with a slender trunk up to about 12 cm im diameter. The 4-angled stems have a clear yellow sap. It has a chocolate-brown outer bark, grooved horizontally, with the inner bark off-white. The leaves are 13-35 cm long, dark glossy green on top, with conspicuous veins. The wood is cream coloured; it splits easily when dry and is used, if at all, mostly for firewood and poles. The globular flower-heads have many (up to 90) small 5 o6 6-lobed white flowers (as in the illustration above). The composite fruit is formed from the fused ovaries in the head, a whitish or translucent knobbly production with polygonal fascets.
Traditionally the tree was used for both yellow (produced from the root) and red (produced from the root bark) dyes, especially the yellow dye used for dying tapa throughout Polynesia and batik in Java. Isabella Abbott notes that the roots provided the yellow dye for kapa (tapa) in Hawaii, and mixed with unburnt lime produced a rose colour (La'au Hawai'i, pp. 99-100).
Throughout its range the nonu has been esteemed for its medicinal properties; Art Whistler described it as "currently the most widely used medicinal plant in Polynesia" (Plants of the Canoe People, p. 149). In many places the leaves especially are used medicinally, for example in treating boils, infected cuts and swellings. In Samoa, Tahiti and the Marquesas an infusion of fresh leaves or leaves wilted over fire is used for treating inflammation. In Hawai'i crushed or singed leaves were applied to bruises, sores and wounds. The bark of the stem was considered good for cuts, and juice from te roots used for treating skin eruptions.An infusion of bark and leaves is used to treat stomach ache in Samoa and Futuna. In the Cook Islands and Tahiti the roots are part of a treatment for the stings of stonefish. In Hawai'i they also provide an anti-louse hair shampoo, and a chaser to counter the effects of kava. In Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti the juice of the fruit is used traditionally for treating gum and mouth infections. In Hawai'i the juice from immature fruit was mixed with salt as a counter-irritant over bone breaks. Green fruit was mashed and applied to the head after concussion.
From the mid-20th Century nonu juice has been marketed extensively (usually as "Tahitian Noni juice" even though it is known as nono in Tahiti and the Cook Islands. This has led to nonu plantations being established in Hawai'i, the Cook Islands and elsewhere in Polynesia. Although there is little solid evidence to support most of the claims, the juice is said to be either alone or in combination with other herbal ingredients a remedy for menstrual cramps, arthritis, gastric ulcers, poor digestion, high blood pressure, sprains and even cancer.
The plant also has culinary uses in some at least of the places where it is grown, although because of its unpleasant taste and squishy texture when ripe the fruit is generally a famine food rather than part of everyday diet. However it was cooked in Samoa as a treat for sick people, "although the sick may not have considered it so" (W.A. Whistler, Plants in Samoan Culture p. 147). The leaves were used in Tahiti to wrap fish for baking, to give the food a pleasant taste. In the Marquesas and Hawai'i the fruit was used as pig food.
Samoan children traditionally used ripe nonu fruit like paintballs, throwing the fruit among each other while singing a special song, with those who lacked the skill to catch and throw on the ball likely to be splattered by its contents.
Te Uira Henry lists it among the plants derived from the human body, in this case, from ear wax (Ancient Tahiti, p. 420). Altogether a notable and interesting plant, with multiple uses for its leaves, fruit and roots.
Nonokia, Nonorangi, Tainui: Pomaderris apetala ssp. maritima
 There is no obvious connection between the plant from Aotearoa and its Polynesian namesakes, apart from the first two syllables of two of its local alternative names. However, when it became known to botanists in the nineteenth century the plant was found only between Kāwhia and the mouth of the Mohakatino River, the coastal areas first settled by the crew and passengers on the Tainui canoe. It was regarded by Māori in the Mokau area, who helped Sir James Hector collect specimens in 1879, as having sprung from the green branches used for flooring on the Tainui waka.
At the time it was first described botanically in Aotearoa trees were already rare and local in their distribution, growing naturally in locations around Kāwhia, Marokopa, Awakino, Mokau and the Mohakatino river mouth, but it is now classed as a "threatened -- nationally critical" species, confined naturally to the last two localities. It was once much more widely distributed, as fossils from the Miocene era (2-23 million years ago), after Aotearoa started re-emerging from the ocean, have been found in Southland. The subspecies is also found naturally in Tasmania. On the plus side, however, it has become naturalised in many places in the Eastern South Island, as well as in Stewart Island and some North Island districts, partly because of its suitability for hedging and shelter in exposed situations.
The tree grows from 2 to 6 metres in height, erect with many branches, with the main trunk 12-15 cm in diameter. The leaves and young stems are clothed with soft hairs, as are the the flowering stems and buds. It produces clusters of abundant flowers, which have no petals, on elongated stems. The sepals are pale creamy-yellow in colour. The leaves are dark green and wrinkled on the upper surface, and covered with closely pressed, star-like arrangements of hairs below. The fruit are small capsules containing dark matt-surfaced seeds.
The local tradition attributed the presence of the tree in Mokau and nearby localities to its having originated from the poles used as flooring in the Tainui waka, after the canoe was hauled ashore in Kāwhia. This legend perhaps validates the link between the nono of Tahiti and Rarotonga, and the nonorangi and nonokia of Mokau. The New Zealand plant is at first glance quite different in appearance from its tropical counterpart, but it is a similar size, with crinkly leaves, and has the same toughness and ability to survive in exposed coastal locations. The nono was a very important plant throughout Polynesia, so it would not be surprising to find the name transferred to another plant in a new location, even one sharing only some of its namesake's qualities, and especially so in this case if some of the discarded flooring was thought (at a time when the memory of the tropical tree had not yet faded) to have been nono poles. Shapeshifting is common in Polynesian mythology, so it would not have been too surprising if the nono that sprang up in the new land was different from that in the old -- even less strange than Maui's having been able to turn himself into a pigeon! One way or another, the plant found in Aotearoa provided a link to the waka and the land from whence it set out.
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