Taonga pūoro
Videos
Taonga pūoro are the traditional musical instruments of the Māori people of New Zealand.
A selection of taonga pūoro from the collection of Horomona Horo
Nguru made from wood with pāua shell inserts
An example of a large Pūtōrino made by Tohunga Whakairo Warren Warbrick
A pūtātara in Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Sphaeropteris medullaris
Videos
Sphaeropteris medullaris, synonym Cyathea medullaris, commonly known as mamaku or black tree fern, is a large tree fern up to 20 m tall with a trunk up to 20 cm diameter at breast height. It is distri
Taonga pūoro
…wood which is held in the mouth and plucked, to create a sound that modulated how spoken words and songs sounded. The instrument was often made from mamaku bark. Taonga pūoro are currently used for their traditional purposes, but also in many genres of music from classical, orchestral, chamber music, through…
Cyathea medullaris
Illustration of Sphaeropteris medullaris by William Jackson Hooker (1862)
Sphaeropteris medullaris can colonise areas of disturbed forests
The black trunk with characteristic hexagonal stipe bases seen here from this specimen from RBGE, Edinburgh