New Zealand Native Plant Mahoe

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New Zealand Native Plant Mahoe or Melicytus Ramiflorus and the common name is Whitey Wood. • UPDATED: • Mahoe is actually a hardwood. • Totara / Podocarpus Totara is a softwood and could be used as kauahi (bottom wood). • Pate / Patete / Seven-finger / Schifflera Digitata is a hardwood. • Te hika (Spindle) is the top piece of wood and is better to use a hard wood for this purpose, but you can also use a softwood as Te hika (Spindle). • Kaikomako / Pennantia Corymbosa is said to be the best wood for generating fire. Kaikomako is a hardwood and was used as Te hika the top piece of wood. Others have stated that Kaikomako was the best wood for using as Te hika (Spindle) and kauahi (Base Board) at the same time. • The last tree that is said to be used for creating fire was the Pukatea / Laurelia novae-zelandiae a hardwood, this would have been used as te hika. • When making fire by friction, it is best to make the top piece of wood a hardwood and the bottom piece a soft wood. This way your spindle will last longer and the bottom boards fibres will break down faster, and should therefore catch fire easier. But use what wood you have available. You can use hardwood for top and bottom if needed. You can also use softwood for top and bottom if needed. • From my research, these are the five trees that Maui discovered that were used to make fire by friction: • Pukatea - Laurelia novae-zelandiae - Hardwood • Kaikomako - Pennantia Corymbosa - Hardwood • Pate / Patete / Seven-finger - Schifflera Digitata - Hardwood • Mahoe / Hinahina / Whitey Wood - Melicytus Ramiflorus - Hardwood • And possibly? • Totara - Podocarpus totara - Softwood • or • Houhere/lacebark - Hoheria spp. - Hardwood • My best educational guess, would be that the fifth tree is more likely to be Totara - Podocarpus totara - Softwood. • My reasoning for this is that Totara is a softwood and would make for a perfect base board on the bottom due to the fibers being able to break down easier than a hardwood. And therefore heat up into an ember much easier and faster. Also that Totara has more flammability, compared to Houhere/lacebark - Hoheria spp. - Hardwood. • I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor ( / editor )

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