Cabbage trees (Cordyline australis) are trees native to New Zealand.
A thesis on the uses of the tree was produced in about 1986 by scientist Barry Frankhauser. A documentary that includes an interview with him is in the New Zealand Television Archive and was broadcast in 2004 by Maori Television.
Because their high carbohydrate content can be made digestible by cooking, they were a valuable food source for at least the first 800 years of the Maori occupation of the country. Carbon dating points to use since about the year 1000. Related trees were probably valuable elsewhere in the South Pacific. Fern root was the only other substantial carbohydrate source.
The Otago Peninsula is one place where archaeology has shown substantial use of the cabbage tree for food. Huge hollows, up to 7 m across, are the remains of "umu-ti" (cabbage-tree ovens). After cooking for 2 days, the bundles of young cabbage tree would be sun-dried, in which state they would keep for years.
Cabbage trees also have value as fibre sources. The trunk and root material can be twisted into ropes, and the leaves can be woven for clothing and footwear fabrics.
Juice from the plant has value for fighting infections. Early missionaries "brewed a tolerable beer from it".
Commercial values remain to be fully examined. Possibilities are as a low-calorie sweetener (since it is twice as sweet as sugar) and as an ethanol source.
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