Thursday 1 December 2011: Toe toe over water
Toe toe (often misspelt toi toi) is a native plumed grass, much used by Maori in weaving. The Maori name for the flower head, which is what this is k?kaho.
It was used to line houses and the hollow culms were also used as shafts for hunting arrows, straws and pipes, spears in games, and frames for kites. Leaves were sometimes used for weaving mats and baskets. It is still used in the making of tukutuku panels, a kind of woven panel which also uses other plants like bracken, totara,and pingao.
In NZ it can be confused with pampas grass, which is bigger, coarser and a problem in the northern part of NZ.
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