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  • He aha te take o ngā rau o te rākau?

    Ko te take matua o ngā rau ko te ahotakakame.

    Mā te ahotakakame te tupu e mahi kai māna anō.

    Ko tā ngā rau o te rākau, he miti i te hauhā o te hau takiwā me te pūngao aho o Tama-nui-te rā.

    Ka kōmitimiti ngēnei huānga me te wai hei whakaputa i te kūhuka me te te hāora.

    Rights: Manatārua: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

    Te ahotakakame – he tiro whānui

    Ka whakaahuatia nei te kahikatea hei tauira.

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    What is the purpose of leaves?

    Photosynthesis is the main purpose of leaves.

    Plants use photosynthesis to make their own food.

    Plant leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air and light energy from the Sun.

    They combine these with water to produce glucose and oxygen.

    Rights: Manatārua: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

    Ngā poare

    Mā te poare te hauhā e urururu ki te rau, ā, te hāora e puta i te rau.

    Te whakaahua o te kawakawa: NZLogan, CC BY-NC 4.0, Ahunga i a iNaturalistNZ.

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    Te hopunga o te aho – te kanokāriki me ngā pūmāota

    Ko te pūmāota tētehi wāhanga o ngā pūtau o te rau rākau.

    Nā te kanokāriki kei roto i ngā pūmāota, ka taea e ngā rau te huri i te pūngao aho o Tama-nui-te rā hei pūngao matū.

    Nā te kanokāriki e kākāriki ai ngā pūmāota me ngā rau.

    Catching sunlight – chlorophyll and chloroplasts

    Chloroplasts are part of the cells of a tree’s leaves.

    Due to the chlorophyll contained in chloroplasts, leaves can transform the light energy of the sun into chemical energy.

    Chlorophyll is what makes chloroplasts and leaves green.

    Rights: Manatārua: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

    Ka hangaia e te rākau ngōna wāhanga katoa i te kūhuka e puta ai i te ahotakakame

    Ka whakaahuatia nei te kahikatea (ngā rau hou, ngā kākano, ngā pakiaka me te tinana) hei tauira.

    Te tinana o te Kahikatea nā Cheryl Dawson, CC BY-NC 4.0; Ngā kākano, Peter de Lange, E wātea tūmatawhānui ana; Ngā rau, nā Jane Gosden, CC BY-NC 4.0; me ngā pakiaka, nā Annfr, CC BY-NC 4.0. Ahunga i a iNaturalistNZ. Kahikatea, Matt Stribey.

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    Ka taea e nga tupu te whakaputu i te kūhuka hei māngaro, arā, he raupapa roa noa iho o ngā rāpoi ngota kūhuka.

    Plants can store glucose as starch, which is made up of long chains of glucose molecules.

    Rights: Manatārua: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

    Te ahotakakame, te māngaro me te hurihanga-ora o ngā tupu – kānga

    Ka whakaahuatia nei te kānga hei tauira o te whakaputa i te māngaro kei roto i te kākano, hei kai mā te tupu hou.

    Image of corn cob, Darwin Bell CC BY 2.0.

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    Ka whakaputua te māngaro e ngā tipu hei kai māna ā muri ake nei, hei kai mā ngāna uri rānei. Ka pērā hoki te kānga mā ngōna kākano, me te kūmara mā ngōna kōpura.

    Starch can be stored by plants for future use or as food for their offspring. Corn does this via its seeds, and kūmara does it using tubers.

    Rights: Manatārua: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

    Te ahotakakame, te māngaro me te hurihanga-ora o ngā tupu – kūmara

    Ka whakaahuatia nei te kūmara hei tauira o te whakaputa i te māngaro kei roto i ngā kōpura, hei kai mā te tupu hou.

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    He tini hoki ngā painga o te ahotakakame ki a tātou te tangata

    • Ka kaingia e tātou te māngaro hei kākano, hei hua, hei purapura rānei.
    • Ka whakairotia te kōhiwi tōtara e te tohunga whakairo.
    • Ka rarangatia ngā rau o te harakeke e ngā kaiwhatu.
    • Ka whakaritea e tātou he rongoā mai i ngā rau o te kawakawa.
    • Ka mutu, ko tā te ahotakakame he whakaputa hāora kia whai hā tonu ai te mataora, mō nāianei, ā, mō ake tonu atu.

    Photosynthesis benefits us in many ways

    • We eat starch as seeds, tubers or fruit.
    • Master carvers use the heartwood of tōtara to build waka and wharenui.
    • Weavers use the leaves of the harakeke.
    • We can prepare rongoā from the leaves of the kawakawa.
    • What’s more, photosynthesis produces oxygen.
    Rights: Manatārua: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

    Ngā painga o te ahotakakame

    He tini hoki ngā painga o te ahotakakame ki a tātou te tangata.

    Image acknowledgements: Tōtara prow Tauihu, Waka taua Te Toki a Tapiri, Reverend John Kinder. Circa 1865. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Accession No 1983/22/15. Harakeke bassinet, Sue Scheele. Nō roto mai i Te Reo o Te Repo – The Voice of the Wetland. Hāngī meal by Juli R, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Kawakawa poultice, photo by Simon Waterfield, from Connected article: The Science of Rongoā. Crown Copyright.

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    This resource is available as a te reo Māori only Word document file for kura to adapt as required.

    He kōrero kōpūtahi ❘ Related content

    Ngā hono ❘ Useful links

    He whakamihi

    Tēnei te mihi nui ki a Mokoro Gillett (Tumuaki o Te Wharekura o Te Rau Aroha) rāua ko Norman Mason (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research). Tēnā kōrua.

    Acknowledgements

    Thank you to Mokoro Gillett (Principal of Te Wharekura o Te Rau Aroha) and Norman Mason (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research).

      Published 30 August 2022 Referencing Hub articles
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