Saturday 21 January 2023 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
I am hoping some of your readers can assist with a particular problem concerning the traditional Tiare Māori or Tahitian gardenia (Gardenia taitensis). During community meetings in 2002, I encountered only two reports of fruits: two on a plant in Tamarua and one on a plant in Ngātangi’ia.
Knowing that this plant bears lots of fruits in its native homeland of Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa, I concluded that the regular pollinating insect is not present in the Cook Islands, nor in French Polynesia.
However, during the present research I have discovered that this species has separate male and female plants, and all the plants I have inspected/dissected have been male. Of course, none had fruits!
There must be a few female Tiare Māori somewhere on Rarotonga.
If you have been lucky enough to have seen a ribbed, golf-ball sized fruit on an existing shrub could you, please contact me on 24894 or gerald@nature.gov.ck.
Kia manuia,
Gerald McCormack
Director
Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust