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 The kuta, Eleocharis sphacelata, shown growing in its natural environment in the photograph on the left, is one of the largest species of the genus Eleocharis, and is found also in Australia and New Guinea. It occupies in Aotearoa the ecological niche filled by waterlilies in other countries – it has an efficient oxygen-recycling system in its hollow leaves which enables it to thrive and relatively deep water – 75 cm to two metres plus. Kuta has many roles in the ecosystem, including helping keep waterways clean, providing a haven for small fish among its stems, and oxygen for aquatic insects, which bore tiny holes into the culms and tap the internal oxygen supply. It can survive drought by shutting down when the water level drops below the surface of the lake or river-margin where it is growing. The corms will sprout new shoots when the water returns.
The culms are up to two metres above the water, which means that they can be over three metres long from the base. The yellowish-green leaves become a beautiful golden brown, with hints of other colours when dry. The flowers are produced near the tips of the culms. The culms themselves are segmented with internal walls, technically known as septa, every centimetre or so, which gives a bamboo-like impression, hence the English name "bamboo sedge".
Kuta is traditionally used for weaving fine comfortable sleeping mats, wallcoverings, and clothing. Ocasionally it was bundled with raupo and used as a wall-insulation. It can also be used for weaving kete and other objects – but these are not as durable as those were woven from harakeke or kiekie.
According to a whakapapa of fibre plants supplied by by Mr H. Delamere of Te Whānau a Apanui to the Auckland Museum, kuta, kutakuta (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani) and raupō (Typha orientalis) are all offspring of Te Kawha, a descendent of Tāne, by different wives. Botanically, kuta and kutakuta are quite closely related to each other, both members of the sedge family (Cyperaceae), and all three occupy analogous ecological niches. There is a very good discussion of this in the paper by Mieke Kapa (see below for the reference). Mieke Kapa's article also includes the poem by Toi Te Rito Maihi, which is beautifully evocative of the character of this plant, and is reproduced here alongside the photograph of the dried culms.
Unlike its near-namesake, the kutakuta (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani), kuta is difficult to propagate, as I found out many years ago when the late Mabel Waititi, QSM, a noted weaver (and altogether a remarkable person) brought me some rhizomes to plant in my pond in Wellington. They did not thrive. I thought at the time it was probably because the water level was not deep enough, but apparently this is normally what happens when you try to propagate them by that means. It seems that the best way to grow kuta is from seed, floated over a potting mix until it starts to germinate. You then lower the water level, so the germinating seeds can anchor themselves on the wet potting mix beneath. Plants raised by this method should be pretty easy to transfer to their permanent positions.
In many dictionaries and reference works the botanical name for kuta will be given as Scirpus lacustris. This is a case of mistaken identity. Scirpus lacustris, now known as Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani, is actually a different kind of sedge, similar in appearance to the kuta, except that its culms do not have internal septa, and so there are no ring marks around them. One of its Maori names is kutakuta, meaning "like or resembling a kuta", and there is a separate page devoted to it on this website.
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| References and further reading: There is a highly informative article about the ethno-botany of kuta by Mieke Kapa in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol 119, no 2, June 2010, pp. 131-148. You can read the article on line on the Society's web site. Other useful information is contained in the Landcare Research information sheet on Kuta and Kāpūngāwhā (Kutakuta), and in Brian Sorrell and Chris Tanner, "Kuta: a special sort of spike-rush", Water and Atmosphere 7 (1), 1999, pp. 8-10; M. M. Kapa, & B.D. Clarkson, "Biological flora of New Zealand 11: Eleocharis sphacelata, kuta, paopao, bamboo spike sedge”. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 47(1), 2009, pp. 43-52; as well as in the pages linked to the credits for the photographs (below). The NZ Plant Conservation Network also has a page on Eleocharis sphacelata. |
