Kiekie (''Freycinetia banksii'') is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber 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 ...

. It is a member of the screwpalm family

Pandanaceae Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, from West Africa through the Pacific. It contains 982 known species in five genera, of which the type genus, ''Pandanus'', is the most important, wi ...

. Kiekie has numerous cane-like stems up to 40 mm in diameter, which freely produce aerial roots. It climbs tree trunks, or forms dense tangles on the forest floor. Its stems and leaves are a dominant feature in many areas of New Zealand forest, the stems eventually reaching up to 30 m long. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are long and slender, 60–90 cm long and 2-2.5 cm broad.

Distribution

Kiekie is found in forests throughout the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. In the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, kiekie is more common in higher rainfall areas, reaching its southern limit near the Clarence river in the east and in Fiordland in the west.

Classification

In 1973, B.C. Stone argued that ''F. banksii'' should be regarded as a subspecies of ''F. baueriana'' of Norfolk Island (Stone 1973). Subsequent to this, de Lange et al. (2005:591-592), countered Stone's arguments and retained ''F. banksii'' as a distinct species because of significant differences from ''F. baueriana'', including over all growth habit, phyllotaxis, leaf width, vein tessellation, and bract colour (salmon pink to orange in ''F. baueriana'', white to purplish in ''F. banksii'').

Uses

The sweet-tasting fruits and the succulent flower bracts (tāwhara) were a delicacy of 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 ...

. These were often gathered by using a forked stick. The leaves widely for plaiting and weaving, although the broader leaves of

New Zealand flax New Zealand flax describes the common New Zealand perennial plants ''Phormium tenax'' and ''Phormium colensoi'', known by the Māori names ''harakeke'' and ''wharariki'' respectively. Although given the common name 'flax' they are quite distinc ...

were preferred because they provided more material. Kiekie was preferred for closely woven items, such as ''

kete KETE (99.7 FM; "Three Angels Broadcasting Network") is a terrestrial radio station, licensed to Sulphur Bluff, Texas, United States, and owned by Brazos TV, Inc. KETE broadcasts a Christian preaching format, featuring programming from the Thre ...

pūtea'' and ''kete pure''. Items woven included mats and temporary baskets for holding food. The aerial roots were gathered to use as a binding material for implements and for making fish traps and sandals.

References

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q311751 Freycinetia Flora of New Zealand Fiber plants

Distribution

Classification

Uses

See also

References