Cook Islands

May

2026

The Strangler Vine of Rarotonga

Grand Balloon‑vine, Leaves, flowers and fruit – Cook Islands, Rarotonga – Gerald McCormack

Gerald McCormack, CINHT,

Weeds are plants growing in the wrong place; plants which take time, effort and money to control. The weeds of taro plots, lawns, home gardens and horticultural areas are often encountered and well known. Less obvious are weeds which damage the native forests of inland Rarotonga. The forests which reduce erosion and protect the water supply; the forests which are an economic asset in the tourist industry; the forests which are an aesthetic asset to us all; and, the forests which contain plants and animals not found anywhere else in the world. Continue reading →

May

2026

Beware of the Oleanders

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

Yellow Oleander, Leaves, flower and fruit – Gerald McCormack

Yellow Oleander is an ornamental tree from tropical America, which is widespread in the Southern Cooks. It has yellow, funnel-like flowers, which develop into angular fruit, about 5cm across. The tree has attractive hanging foliage and grows to about 5 metres in height.

The scientific name is Cascabela thevetia, although you’ll find it in most books under its former name, Thevetia peruviana.

In English, the Yellow Oleander also known as the Be-still Tree. As the foliage and flowers move in the slightest breeze it is easy to imagine photographers yelling “Be-still!” However, this is not how it got its unusual name. The unlikely name, Be-still Tree, is a macabre reference to the ability of the plant to kill people. All parts of the plant, especially the seeds, are deadly poisonous.

A case from Brisbane reported that a 3-year-old girl ate some unknown parts of Yellow Oleander, probably the seeds, in the late afternoon. She suffered a cardiac arrest in the ambulance and was dead by 11pm. A single seed can kill a small child.

The signs of Yellow Oleander poisoning are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, high blood pressure and irregular heart beat. Death results from cardiac arrest.

Pink Oleander, Leaves and flowers – Cook Islands, Rarotonga – Gerald McCormack

Early vomiting is a blessing as it often removes sufficient material from the stomach to avoid death. However, if you suspect that a child has eaten any part of Yellow Oleander, immediately seek assistance from a doctor.

The more common Pink Oleander (Tärona, Oleander nerium), or Rose-bay Tree, is equally poisonous. Fortunately, its deadly nature is well known and it does not have such interesting fruit to attract the attention of young children. Nevertheless, a single leaf is potentially lethal, and heat does not destroy the poison.

In Australia there was a case of a woman dying after mistakenly making a herbal tea of oleander leaves; and in another case, several people were rescued unconscious from a smoky room, where they were burning oleander wood to keep warm.

Author’s notes

First published CINEWS (9 October 1993)

May

2026

A Tree, a Bird and a Beetle

Gerald McCormack, CINHT,

Neinei Tree, Leaves and flower – Cook Islands, Rarotonga – Gerald McCormack

The Neinei tree of Rarotonga has such a spectacular flower that the tree itself is often called the Pua Neinei (Flower-of-the-Neinei). The Neinei (Rarotonga Fitchia) is a small tree common in the mountains, from the base of low valleys to the top of the highest mountains. It is not found anywhere else in the world, although it has a few shrubby relatives in French Polynesia.

The large leaves are in terminal bunches, and they often have conspicuous grooves, cut inward from the edge. These are the feeding grooves of the 15mm Neinei Weevil (Rhyncogonus lineatus), which feeds exclusively on the young leaves of the Neinei. Like the plant, this weevil is not found anywhere else in the world, although it does have close relatives in Hawaii as well as in French Polynesia.

The Neinei flowers from April to June. The flowers are large, spiky, bright orange and full of nectar.

Neinei weevil, Adult [16mmBL] – Cook Islands, Rarotonga – Joseph Brider 2020-12

One animal which seeks the nectar as food is the `Ī´oi (Rarotonga Starling). The flower of the Neinei is bent back towards the branch, probably to make it easier for the starling to get to the nectar. Because, while the starling searches for the nectar, it pollinates the flower, thereby enabling the plant to develop seeds. The dark grey `Ī´oi, which has a bright yellow eye, is the most melodious native bird on Rarotonga. It’s typical call of “ee-oi, ee-oi, ee-oi”, is reflected in its Māori name.

The Rarotonga Starling is not found anywhere else in the world, and its closest relative, the Mauke Starling (Aplonis mavornata) of Maºuke, which was last recorded about 150 years ago, in 1825. In the olden days the `Ī´oi was the protector of fugitives and food-gatherers in the forest, because it called when other people approached. A famous traditional saying was: `Ī´oi -karanga (starling warns).

Rarotonga Starling, Adult emerging from nest-hole in tree trunk – Cook Islands, Rarotonga – Gerald McCormack

The fame of the starling’s warning call was reflected in the first anti-government newspaper, the Ioi Karanga, published during 1898.

Moss launched the bilingual Te Torea in 1894, it was published by Henry Nicholas, a European-NZ Maori in Rarotonga since the 1860s, on the leased Government printing press. The first Catholics and SDAs settled on Rarotonga in 1894. The SDAs included the American SDA Dr Caldwell, who became the first resident doctor in 1894 and a makeshift hospital was opened in May 1896. In October he was told to stop having religious meeting in the hospital. The Craig brothers arrived in March 1897 and Dr George Craig was within weeks made hospital superintendent. Craig and a number of Europeans started to strongly oppose Moss’s administration. In January 1898 Makea Ariki, exploiting anti-Moss situation, had the printing press forcibly taken from Nicholas as part of her own campaign against Moss. She then started to print the Ioi Karanga on the press. A short-lived newspaper. In mid-1898 Moss, in ill-health and 71 years old, resigned. He left in September. Gudgeon immediately appointed George Craig as medical officer.

Author’s notes

First published CINEWS(3 July 199) updated (September 2010)

May

2026

The Blue Lorikeet (Kurāmo‘o) of Aitutaki

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

Adult on Banana leaf and flower – Cook Islands, Aitutaki – Joseph Brider 2021-10

The Blue Lorikeet (Vini peruviana ) is a native bird of French Polynesia, formerly existing on about twenty islands in the Society Islands (including Tahiti) and the northern Tuamotu atolls. In recent years it has been lost from Tahiti and all the main Society Islands, surviving only on three remote atolls to the northwest (especially Bellinghausen/Motu One) and on three or four atolls of the Tuamotus. Continue reading →

May

2026

Toa – Pacific Ironwood

Gerald McCormack, CINHT

Leaves, flowers and fruit (1) – Cook Islands, Rarotonga – Gerald McCormack

The Toa (Ironwood) of the Cook Islands, Casuarina equisetifolia, is a native tree of Malaysia, Australia and some islands in the western Pacific. It was probably spread eastward through Southern Polynesia by the ancient Polynesian settlers, and now grows naturally on many islands.

Throughout the Southern Group it grew well and spread naturally along the shorelines and into the fernlands of the inland mountains. In contrast, it did not grow well nor spread itself on the northern atolls, where it is uncommon, rare or absent.

The thin green parts which look like leaves are not leaves; they are green branchlets, which perform the leaf-function of changing the energy of sunlight into the energy of sugars. When you snap a branchlet, the minute pale projections at the break are all that remain of the true leaves.

Leaves, flowers and fruit (2) – Cook Islands, Mangaia – Gerald McCormack

Although the Toa looks like a relative of the pine tree, it is more closely related to the hibiscus and gardenia than the pine. The Toa is a flowering plant. The female flowers are each represented by a delicate pink filament on a small knob on the branch among the green branchlets. When they have been pollinated the knob grows into a woody fruit which contains lots of small seeds. The pollen is made by the male flowers which are the pale, bushy tails, typically on the ends of some branchlets.

Toa in general, and sometimes the heartwood (taiki), is the preferred wood for making many things, such as: beaters (tïtï) for slit-gongs; outrigger booms (kiato) on canoes; planting sticks for Taro (pao-taro); adze-handles (kakau-toki); recreational throwing discs (pua); and, parts of the framing of traditional dwellings. In pre-Missionary times it was also used to make spears (räkau), clubs (patu) and God-images (atua).

A solution made from scrapings of the inner bark is one of several herbal medicines (vai räkau) used for mouth thrush (kea) in children and for some urinary problems (mimi and mimi-tätua).

The English name Ironwood is used in different countries for different species of trees and is therefore confusing to overseas visitors. In Australia Casuarina equisetifolia is known as Beefwood, Horsetail Tree or Sheoke. The name Sheoke is thought to be a combination of ‘sshh’ (the sound of the wind passing through the branchlets) and ‘oak’ (the wood being very hard, like European Oak).

Author’s notes

First published CINEWS (18 June 1994)

Cook Islands

The Strangler Vine of Rarotonga

Beware of the Oleanders

A Tree, a Bird and a Beetle

The Blue Lorikeet (Kurāmo‘o) of Aitutaki

Toa – Pacific Ironwood

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