Tōī

Cordyline indivisa, "Mountain Cabbage Tree" (Asparagaceae)

Also known as: Tī-kapu, Tī-kupenga, Tī-mataku-tai, Tī-tōī.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Proto Central Pacific *Toi, Generic name for Alphitonia species (Rhamnaceae) through:
Proto Polynesian *Toi, Alphitonia zizyphoides (Rhamnaceae)

COGNATE WORDS IN SOME OTHER POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES
Tongan: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Niuean: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Samoan: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Tahitian: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)
Rarotongan: Toi (Alphitonia zizyphoides, Rhamnaceae)

RELATED MĀORI PLANT NAMES
Tī, Generic name for all Cordyline species.

The name töï may well be a local invention, but in the absence of definitive information to the contrary, we are treating it as a reflex of the Proto-Polynesian word *Toi (no long vowels), which in many Polynesian languages refers to another denizen of the mountains, the botanically quite different tree Alphitonia zizyphoides.

The Aotearoa-based töï is a very beautiful tree, also known as kapu, tï-kapu, tï-kupenga, and tï-matuku-tai. Like the other members of the genus Cordyline, it is one of the group known collectively as tï (tii), and three of its other names are simplify modifications of that word root.

Töï is found naturally in mountain areas with rich soil and high rainfall. In some parts of Fiordland, however, it can also be found near sea level. It reaches a height of up to 8 metres (rarely, a little more), and the leaves can be up to two metres in length. The old dead leaves often persist as a "skirt" below the crown. The tree has a slender trunk anout 10 cm in diameter; the bark may be smooth, or rough and fissured. Tōī produces massive, compact inflorescences up to 1.5 metres long, hanging downward (quite unlike other New Zealand species of Cordyline) with purple buds opening to white to purplish, sweetly scented flowers, each about 1 cm in diameter. The flowers appear in early to mid-summer, followed by bluish berries .6mm in diameter in autumn. The leaves often have a multi-coloured appearance, with yellowish midribs. The tōī has a very strong fibre, superior to that of harakeke (Phormium tenax) in water. The leaves were used for making rain capes, and the fibre for sandals and belts.

Although the cultivated tï pore (Cordyline fruticosa), brought to Aotearoa from the Pacific, was much preferred as a food in those districts where it flourished, in earlier times both the young tender shoots and the core of the trunk of töï and other species of Cordyline were cooked and eaten, in emergencies and to mark a special occasion. The renewed interest in traditional food and "bush tucker" has also given contemporary New Zealanders a chance to sample such foods. The sugar content of the rhizomes is at its highest just before flowering; traditionally, young trees less than 2 m. high were favoured -- baked in an earth oven for one or two days to caramelize the sugars. Apart from Cordyline fruticosa, C. australis (tī-kōuka) was favoured for this procedure, which was practised most commonly in the South Island, with tōī as a potential fallback.