Tuateawa Plant Spot; Renga Renga Lily.

This must be one of the iconic NZ native plants. It grows just about anywhere, tolerates full sun or dry shade, even extreme coastal conditions. It is widely used in mass plantings, in traffic islands, municipal gardens and for landscaping private homes.

In Tuateawa, in the wild, it is making quite a comeback and can be found from shoreline to the top of Whanake, but always in rocky situations. The major factor in it's decline in the natural environment being it's food value. It is thought to have been gathered and also cultivated by early Maori, the fleshy rhizomes being edible when cooked. In the wild the introduced browsing animals would have consumed the leafy plants and the feral pigs would have eaten leaves and rooted up the rhizomes as well. This is possibly why it has come to be known as The NZ Rock Lily. Only in the rocks would it have been possible for the rhizomes to have survived from the rooting and grazing pressure. Feral pigs still exist in Tuateawa but the goats have been gone for over a decade and the cattle not much less. The Renga Renga Lily is starting to thrive again.