<hw>Maori, White</hw>, New Zealand miners' name for a stone. See quotation.
1883. `A Citizen,' `Illustrated Guide to Dunedin,' p. 169:
"Tungstate of lime occurs plentifully in the Wakatipu district, where from its weight and colour it is called <i>White Maori</i> by the miners."
<hw>Mapau</hw>, <i>n</i>. a Maori name for several New Zealand trees; called also <i>Mapou</i>, and frequently corrupted by settlers into <i>Maple</i>, by the law of Hobson-Jobson. The name is applied to the following—
The Mapau— <i>Myrsine urvillei</i>, De C., <i>N.O. Myrsineae</i>; sometimes called <i>Red Mapau</i>.
Black M.— <i>Pittosporum tenuifolium</i>, Banks and Sol., <i>N.O. Pittosporeae</i>; Maori name, <i>Tawhiri</i>.
White M.— <i>Carpodetus serratus</i>, Forst., <i>N.O. Saxifrageae</i>; <i>Pittosporum eugenoides</i>, A. Cunn.; Maori name, <i>Tarata</i> (q.v.); called also the <i>Hedge-laurel</i> (q.v.), <i>Lemon-wood</i>, and <i>New Zealand Oak</i>. See <i>Oak</i>.
The first of these trees (<i>Myrsine urvillei</i>) is, according to Colenso, the only tree to which the Maoris themselves give the name <i>Mapau</i>. The others are only so called by the settlers.
1868. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. i., `Essay on Botany of Otago,' p. 37:
"White Mapau, or Piripiri-whata (<i>Carpodetus serratus</i>), an ornamental shrub-tree, with mottled-green leaves, and large cymose panicles of white flowers. . . . Red Mapau (Myrsine Urvillei), a small tree common at Dunedin. Wood dark red, very astringent, used as fence stuff."