[Mihalic] Additions

[Bryant Allen]

For John W,
This is almost certainly Piper aduncum.  It is widespread in Morobe. It has 
e.,g. completely colonised the grass terraces at Wantoat that have been 
grass since the first kiap went through around 1920 something.
The fruit or flower of this species of Piper looks similar to the Piper 
betle fruit, which is used for chewing with betel nut and is called daka. 
Hence diwai daka. Do the Kamu Yali people have a local term for Piper betle 
(daka)? If not they may just be using a description of  the tree (which is 
lighter green in colour than many indigenous trees) as a name.

Lae Herbarium would have known it, I'm sure.

While I'm on the subject and in reference to Robin's literature review, is 
the new dictionary going to include key references like this? I thought of 
pasting some in, but thought better of it. But it is wroth while thinking 
about. My notes on the tree were an edited version of the abstract from one 
of Hartemink's papers.

At 06:04 AM 28-05-03 -0700, you wrote:
>Bryant, John et al.,
>
>When I was working at Kamu Yali (Lababia) in Morobe
>Province there was a tree growing in their most
>fertile gardening area - the Bitoi River Delta - that
>they referred to as "diwai daka". Known in their own
>tok ples as "e'tataran" meaning simply "green tree".
>It is now the most abundant of the species that sprout
>up during fallow periods - it was not known though, or
>was not common, one generation ago. It grows to a
>height of no more than 20 feet, quite often in very
>thick stands. Except for the fact that it is not a
>"shrub" (at least as I understand that term) it seems
>to correspond perfectly with your description below.
>I'm wondering if "diwai daka" is a term used quite
>differently in different regions of the country? It
>would seem that at Kamu Yali "daka" is being used as
>an equivalent term to "grinpela". Thus diwai daka =
>e'tataran = green tree?
>
>When I took a leave sample of this tree to someone
>working at the Lae Botanical Gardens they were unable
>to identify the species name ...
>
>John Wagner

Dr Bryant Allen
Senior Fellow
Department of Human Geography
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University ACT 0200
Australia.

Tel: +61-2-61252234; Fax: +61-2-61254896

http://rspas.anu.edu.au/humgeog/

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