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Copyright ©
2013
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Plant Use Details
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Carex flagellifera. Mānaia. Maurea.
Cyperaceae Sedge family
Carex flagellifera 
mānaia; maurea
Glen Murray tussock
As for C. comans: Belts made from the bright reddish-yellow leaves of the maurea. Had a proportion of flax-fibre mixed with it in order to strengthen it. (Best 1899, 1908 ; Te Rangi Hiroa 1923). [However, a belt in the Auckland Museum is made from the reddish flower stems of Uncinia rubra. Goulding 1971 states that there are no artifacts recorded made from C. comans [or C. flagellifera. Ed.]
As for C. comans: Famous saying is 'He maurea kia whiria'. Select the maurea, do not bother about the common weeds. Maurea is a kind of rush with reddish culms used to make ornamental belts. Said to warparty which arrives at small or friendly village (Go to where the chiefs are) (Best 1902: 128; Best 1899: 648). Also mentioned in lament composed by Tamaruru for a dead child (ibid)
1512
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