Kawa, Kawakawa

Piper excelsum (Piperaceae)

ETYMOLOGY:
From Proto Oceanic *KawaRi "roots with special properties", and/or:
Proto Oceanic *Kawa "Kava", Piper methysticum (Piperaceae);
Proto Central Pacific *Kawa "kava, also fish poison plants"; to
Proto Polynesian *Kawa "kava; sour, bitter"

PPN: *Kava (Piper methysticum, Piperaceae)
Māori: Kawa, kawakawa (Piper excelsum, Piperaceae)
COGNATE WORDS IN SOME OTHER POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES
Tongan: Kava (Piper methysticum [Piperaceae])
Niuean: Kava (P. methysticum)
Samoan: 'ava(P. methysticum)
Rapanui: Kava ("bitter tasting")
Tahitian: 'Ava(P. methysticum)
Marquesan: Kava, 'ava (P. methysticum)
Hawaiian: 'awa(P. methysticum)
Tuamotuan: Kava(P. methysticum)
Rarotongan: Kava (P. methysticum [Piperaceae]; Kawakawa Pittosporum rarotongense [Pittosporaceae])

Note: In Māori, Rarotongan and Tuamotuan kawa or kava also has the sense of "bitter", as in Rapanui, which is not the case for most Western Polynesian languages. The fern Cranfillia fluvatile is also sometimes referred to as kawakawa in Māori; however this appears to simply be a phonological alternation with its other name, kiwakiwa, thus unconnected with PCP *kava.

HOMOPHONOUSLY RELATED WORD
The Māori word Kawariki (Coprosma autumnalis, Rubiaceae) looks at first glance to be related to kawa "Piper excelsum" with the addition of riki "small". However, the word has a very different derivation, ultimately from Proto-Polynesian kau, "tree" and ariki "chief", kaualiki, Terminalia catappa, the tree under which chiefs made important announcements and a metaphor for a chief's word.

Watch this space! This is one of the pages written in the prototype stage of this web site, which has been transferred with minimal changes to the newer format. It is still therefore partly under construction, but contains the essential linguistic and botanical information, as well as other material. Further updated text and pictures will be added progressively as soon as time permits (new pages for plant names not yet discussed are being given priority). If you would like this page to be updated sooner than planned, please email a note to temaarareo at gmail.com.

Kawakawa is a shrub of the forest interior in the North Island and northern South Island, and can grow to about 6 metres tall. In appearance it is very similar to the tropical kava, and it has analogous medicinal and narcotic properties, so it is not at all surprising that it was accorded the names kawa and kawakawa in Aotearoa. The leaves have of the two species have a similar appearance, with the veins radiating out from where the petiole (leaf-stalk) joins the leaf, but the heart-shaped leaves of the kawakawa are smaller than those of the tropical kava, and relatively wider, with a longer leaf-stalk (on mature plants, kawakawa leaves can reach about 10 cm long and 12 cm wide, whereas relatively more tapered kava leaves can reach about 30 x 23 cm, but the petioles are short, up to about 3 cm). There are separate male and female inflorescences on erect spikes, sometimes a tree will have flowers mostly of one or the other sex. The plants are very frost tender -- in the severe winter of 2009 we lost a strong, 10 year-old tree but fortunately some seedlings in more sheltered spots survived unscathed.

In Aotearoa kawakawa became a sacred tree, with many religious, cultural and medicinal attributes and uses. Kawakawa branchlets were (and are still) used in sprinkling water in purification rituals, and worn at funerals as symbols of death. (The rangiora, Brachyglotis repanda, is the corresponding symbol of life.) The word kawa itself has taken on the meaning of the rubrics and the ceremonies themselves for the opening of houses, completion of a waka, baptism of a child, and marae protocol generally, and is also a generic term for sprigs of plants used for sprinkling or other purposes in various rituals. As in several other Eastern Polynesian languages, kawa is also a general term for an unpleasant taste, either sour or bitter.

The root of the tropical kava (Piper methysticum) is perhaps the most important part of the plant, from which the traditional drink is brewed, but the roots of the kawa (Piper [formerly Macropiper] excelsum) do not appear to have been used for this or any other notable purpose. Andrew Crowe notes that the berries are small but very sweet, perhaps the tastiest of native fruit, although the hard seeds are generally spat out -- however, he thinks that these may in fact have culinary uses like those of the pepper vine (Piper nigrum). He also quotes an early writer who claimed approvingly that the berries were stimulant and an aphrodisiac.

The steamed leaves and decoctions of the leaves and bark of Macropiper exelsum -- i.e. the shrub known as kawa or kawakawa -- were used for treating a wide range of skin disorders, and poultices of the leaves were also used for treating toothaches and headaches. Apparently nineteenth century European settlers also used it for flavouring beer. Others used the dried leaves as a substitute for tea. Maori drank similar decoctions as a tonic -- water infused with kawakawa was generally regarded as a "blood purifier", and some found it excellent for asthma or bronchitis. Kawakawa was also widely thought to be a remedy for venereal disease (as were various spcies of Piper in other parts of the Pacific).

One anonymous source quoted by Murdoch Riley implies that the mild narcotic or anaesthetic effect of infusions of the leaves in hot water was magnified with fatal results for insect pests if the leaves were ignited: "The leaves burnt in a room will kill mosquitoes, and will also render human beings insensible." (Herbal, p.201). This kind of fumigation was also said to keep rats and mice away from kumara pits. An overdose of kawakawa leaves will kill rats, but certain insects are addicted to them: the leaves are often riddled with holes, although seldom devoured completely, so perhaps the marauders pay a price for their pleasure!

A leaf or sprig placed underneath a woman or between her breasts prior to intercourse was thought to help ensure conception. The one mention of kawakawa leaves in Nga Mōteatea refers to this quality.

'Kei whea taku heru?'
'Tēnä ka riro i te tāhae pōriro,
Tīraumoko nei, moenga hau nei,
Moenga rau kawakawa nei.'
'Where is my comb?'
'Verily it has been taken by a bastard thief,
The fatherless one, conceived in the open air,
Conceived haphazardly on a leafy couch.'
[NM Part 2, pp. 88-9]

Piper exelsum - Kawa, Kawakawa (Aotearoa) (Foliage)

Piper methysticum - 'awa (Hawai'i) (Young plant, Limahuli Botanical Garden, Kauai, Hawai'i.)