Wild Honey.

An old Maori acquaintance whose home is at Peterehema (Bethlehem), in the Tauranga district, who now and again sends me a scrap of local news or legend, discourses this time on the shrubs and flowers of the land, and in particular those which are more or less poisonous at certain times. The honey made by bees which feed on the waoriki and the wharangi is often poisonous, and those who eat it are in great danger. The waoriki is chiefly a swamp plant, the wharangi rangiora and wharangi-piro are familiar shrubs or small trees which many people grow in their gardens.

“The tupakihi or tutu is also poisonous,” says my correspondent; “it is strongest in the month of January. The other flowers are dangerous at all times. People poisoned by the honey made from these flowers become dazed and stagger about as if demented. I have seen many made seriously ill by the waoriki and wharangi honey, and I have frequently cured sufferers. I have treated them with salt. I gave them salt water to drink, and they recovered.”

A useful hint if ever you should chance to sample “wild” honey containing an undue proportion of sweets from the bush blossoms mentioned. The waoriki's botanical classification is Ranunculus rivularis and R. macropus; the wharangi is melicope ternata (Rutaceae), a small bushy tree with greenish flowers, aromatic when bruised. However, most of our honey is clover-nectar; the bush honey is the sometimes risky kind.

As for the tutu, its poisonous properties are well-known; cattle, horses and sheep have often died from eating its leaves.

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