''Austroderia'' is a genus of five species of tall

grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

native to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, commonly known as toetoe.Toetoe
hosted on the NZ Landcare research Maanaki Whenua website. Page accessed 20 November 2010. The species are ''A. toetoe'', ''A. fulvida'', ''A. splendens'', ''A. richardii'' and ''A. turbaria''. They were recently reclassified in 2011 from the genus ''

Cortaderia ''Cortaderia'' is a genus of South American and Central American plants in the Poaceae grass family. Etymology The common name pampas grass, though strictly referring to ''C. selloana'', is frequently applied to all species in the genus (and so ...

'', although their distinctiveness had been recognized as early as 1853.Steudel, Ernst Gottlieb von 1853. Synopsis Plantarum Glumacearum 1: 34–35
/ref> The name ''toetoe'' comes from the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

. Two closely related

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n species are ''

Cortaderia jubata ''Cortaderia jubata'' is a species of grass known by several common names, including purple pampas grass and Andean pampas grass. It is similar to its more widespread relative, the pampas grass ''Cortaderia selloana'', but it can get quite a bit ...

'' and '' C. selloana'' (Pampas Grass), which have been introduced to New Zealand and are often mistaken for toetoe. These

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

tend to take over from the native toetoe and are regarded as

invasive weeds An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...

. Among the differences between Pampas, Toetoe has a drooping flower head, a cream coloured plume, and the leaves do not break when tugged firmly. Toetoe also has a white, waxy bloom on the leaf-sheath and conspicuous veins between the midrib and leaf margin.

Common uses

The

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

used the toetoe leaves to make baskets, kites, mats, wall linings and roof thatching. It was also used to make containers to cook food in hot springs, due to the fibres being water-resistant. The flower stalks were also useful - as frames for kites, and in

tukutuku Tukutuku panelling is a distinctive art form of the Māori people of New Zealand, a traditional latticework used to decorate meeting houses (wharenui). Other names are tuitui and arapaki. Tukutuku flank the posts around the edge of the wharenui ...

panelling. The seed heads themselves were used on fresh wounds to stop bleeding. Other medicinal uses included treatment of

diarrhoea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

, kidney complaints, and burns. Toetoe is New Zealand's largest native grass, growing in clumps up to 3m in height.

Other names

Māori names for toetoe to its varieties include: toetoe-kākaho, toetoe-mokoro, toetoe-rākau. The flower stem is kākaho. Toetoe is also known as 'cutty grass', especially among children, because the serrated leaf edges can cut the skin. Cutty grass is also used in

to refer to '' Gahnia setifola'' (mapere), '' Cyperus ustulatus'' (upoko tangata) and ''Carex geminata''.

Species

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> * '' Austroderia fulvida'' (North + South Islands) * '' Austroderia richardii'' (North + South Islands; naturalised in Tasmania) * '' Austroderia splendens'' (coastal parts of North Island) * '' Austroderia toetoe'' (North Island) * '' Austroderia turbaria'' (Chatham Islands)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3409558 Danthonioideae Bunchgrasses of Australasia Endemic flora of New Zealand Grasses of New Zealand Poaceae genera