Kawakawa By Sierra

The kawakawa or Pepper tree.

When we went on camp we went to a place call Zealandia which is a park fenced to keep out pests and leave a safe home environment for native species. One of the things that i learned was about the plant called Kawawa. We were chewing these as we went round this is what i found out and learned about then.

The kawa kawa has jointed stems and zigzag branches. The leaves are shaped like love hearts and are usually covered in loads of bug holes. The leaves also have veins that range from dark green to yellow-green colours The Kawakawa  makes spikes of flowers that change from yellow to a bright orange at summertime. The flowers are food for birds.

The Kawakawa is traditional medicine plant used by maori.  You can make tea from the leaves or roots which is normally pepper tea. It is used as a tonic, for bladder problems, boils, bruises or general pain relief because it nums. Plus this plant tastes like pepper but is kinda tangy and weird tasting.

-This is what a Kawakawa or pepper tree looks like.

-It is native to NewZealand

-Its found all throughout NewZealand