Gaultheria antipoda. Tāwiniwini. Snowberry.
Māori names
Māori names
TĀWINIWINI, koropuka (Best, Williams), korapuka (Colenso 1891b), koropuku (Lindsay 1868); pāpapa, pāpapa-kōura (Williams); takapo (South Island. Anon 1993), tapuku or taupuku (Beattie 1920);
tōwai [doubtful; D"Urville (in Beever 1991];
tūmingi recorded in notes given to R. Mason by N. Potts, Opotiki, 1941
Common names
Food
Berries eaten (Colenso 1868a, 1868b, 1880)
"I also remember long ago eating snowberries in the Hokanui Hills. I think our name for them was tapuku"(Māori informant in Beattie 1920)
The fruit (the calyx lobes) are pink, red or white. They are sweet tasting when ripe, especially earlier in the fruiting season (summer/autumn).
Medicinal
Tūmingi: an infusion of the leaves is used for asthma. (S. Neil 1941).
Tūmingi is also the name used for Cyathodes juniperina, which has other records as being used for asthma.
