Chapter 3.10 Green vegetables and figs

Malcolm Ross

1. Introduction⇫

Green vegetables form an important part of *tamaji (ch.2, §6.2), the ingredients of a meal which accompany *kanaŋ, starchy food (ch.2, §6.1). Henderson & Hancock (1988: 83) point out that there is often no meat or fish component in the accompanying ingredients in the Solomons, and that these often consist only of green vegetables, which are a major source of protein. This explains the popularity of the high-protein Abelmoschus manihot. Solomon Islanders consume a diverse range of green vegetables, some cultivated, some collected from the wild, and the same is true in the Bismarcks.

Probably the most widely cultivated leafy vegetables in the Bismarck Archipelago are Abelmoschus manihot (§2.1) and various species of Amaranthus (§2.2). However, all the latter except Amaranthus tricolor are introduced plants (R.M. Bourke, pers. comm.) and were most probably not present in the gardens of Proto Oceanic speakers. Young leaves and petioles of Colocasia esculenta taro (ch.9, §2.2.1) are also commonly eaten as vegetables, and many languages have a separate word for them (ch.4, §2.5).

Ferns recorded as being eaten include species of Asplenium, Athyrium, Ctenitis, Cyathea (§3.1), Dennstaedtia, Diplazium and Dryopteris, as well as Cyclosorus truncatus (Paijmans 1976: 125). Diplazium esculentum is noted by Henderson & Hancock (1988: 84) as the most widely eaten fern in the Solomons. However, the only fern for which a POc term is reconstructed here is Cyathea (§3.1).

An important seasonal food in some areas is the inflorescence (the unopened flower) of Saccharum edule (§3.2). Another edible grass, Setaria palmifolia (no reconstruction), is an important vegetable in inland areas of the Bismarcks and New Guinea (M. Bourke, pers. comm.). The stinging herb Laportea interrupta (syn. Fleurya interrupta, Urtica interrupta) is cultivated and eaten by the Tolai of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain (ch.7, §6.3 .2). The leaves of Morinda citrifolia are also eaten as a green vegetable in parts of Papua New Guinea (ch.13, §3.4). Despite the large number of species that serve as green vegetables, however, only a few terms for them have been reconstructed.

Trees of the genus Ficus (§4) are included here because leaves of some freestanding species serve as green vegetables in NW Island Melanesia. This is not true of all Ficus species in the region, but it is convenient to keep all species of the genus together, as there are difficulties in tying the glosses of some reconstructions down to particular species.

2. Leafy vegetables⇫

2.1. Abelmoschus manihot (syn. Hibiscus manihot), slippety cabbage, bush cabbage, island cabbage, TP aibika, P slipari kabis, B kabis aelan (Malvaceae)⇫

Abelmoschus manihot is a low, many-branched tree-like shrub, seemingly present in every garden throughout the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomons (Figure 10.1). Barrau (1955: 77) calls it ‘truly the traditional vegetable of the whole of Melanesia’. Cuttings are planted in mixed crop gardens and are also harvested from young regrowth in abandoned gardens. There are many varieties, the young shoots and leaves of which have a high protein-to-calorie ratio and are cooked in stone ovens, boiled or steamed in bamboo containers or roasted in bark (Paijmans 1976: 124, Hviding 2005: 131).

POc *wasa primarily denoted Abelmoschus manihot, evidently the most salient and commonly consumed green vegetable in Lapita communities, but it also appears to have been used hypernymously for ‘green vegetables’ in general, to judge from the glosses below.

POc		*wasa	‘Abelmoschus manihot; green vegetables in general’ (French-Wright 1983)
Adm	Mussau	wasa	‘vine (generic?)’
NNG	Tuam	(ai)waz	‘edible greens, Gnetum gnemon’
NNG	Mangap	(kai)wos	‘edible greens, Gnetum gnemon’
NNG	Bing	wās	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NNG	Matukar	wai	‘greens’ (Kasprus 1945)
NNG	Takia	wos	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NNG	Sissano	(eyl-)wuas	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NNG	Kairiru	was	‘vegetable greens; legumes’
MM	Madak	vas	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
MM	Patpatar	wasa	‘fern, Dryopteris aridis’
MM	Tangga	(fun)wes	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
SES	Arosi	wata	‘herb with edible leaves, Amaranthus’
NCV	Mota	as	‘a convolvulus, Ipomoea sp.’
PSV		*nə-was	‘Abelmoschus manihot’ (Lynch 2001c)
SV	Kwamera	nu-vas	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
SV	Lenakel	nu-hua	‘Abelmoschus manihot’

French-Wright (1983: 162) also reconstructs a term POc *bele which apparently denoted Abelmoschus manihot alone. Geraghty (2004: 85) suspects that the Polynesian terms are borrowed from Fijian, since Fijian bele can be glossed as ‘soft leaf’. If, however, the Gedaged, Sye and Ura terms are cognate, this observation is not relevant.

POc		*bele	‘Abelmoschus manihot’ (French-Wright 1983)
NNG	Gedaged	bel	‘shrub like the croton with aromatic dark green leaves’
SV	Sye	(nta)mple	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
SV	Ura	(da)mle	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
Mic	Kiribati	bere	‘Abelmoschus manihot’ (Polynesian borrowing?)
Fij	Wayan	bele	‘taxon including Abelmoschus manihot and Abelmoschus moschatus’
Fij	Bauan	bele	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
Pn	Tongan	pele	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
Pn	Samoan	pele	‘Abelmoschus manihot’

Two terms for Abelmoschus manihot can be reconstructed in lower interstage languages.

PROc		*sasaRu	‘Abelmoschus manihot’ (Franccois 2004b: Proto Banks *sasar)
NCV	Vurës	sasar	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NCV	Lemerig	n-sasar	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NCV	Merlav	na-ssar	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
Fij	Wayan	sasau	‘wild spinach taxon, bitter tasting, eaten boiled’
Fij	Bā	sasau	‘Abelmoschus manihot’ (Preston et al. 1998)

PNCV		*vera	‘Abelmoschus manihot’ (Lynch 2004a)
NCV	Maewo	fʷere	‘Abelmoschus manihot’ (Preston et al. 1998)
NCV	Ambae	were	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NCV	Tamambo	(ha)vera	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NCV	Uripiv	nu-veɾ	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NCV	Rerep	ne-ver	‘Abelmoschus manihot’
NCV	Lonwolwol	(faha)ver	‘green edible plants or leaves, a general term for native greens’

The meaning of the etymon reconstructed below is not clear. It may have been another generic for green vegetables in general or denoted a kind of green vegetable. On the evidence of Lau alone, may have been Abelmoschus manihot. It was probably not Amaranthus viridis, as this appears to have been unknown to POc speakers.

POc		*pʷa(k,g)e	‘k.o. green vegetable (?)’
Adm	Lou	pʷakɛ	‘fern’
Adm	Drehet	pʷake	‘greens; fibrous/stringy, mainly stems after cooking, found wild near water or grown in gardens’
PT	Dobu	pai	‘green foods’
MM	Tolai	pe-pege	‘Amaranthus viridis’
SES	Lau	kʷake	‘Abelmoschus manihot’

2.2. Amaranthus tricolor (syn. Amaranthus gangeticus, Amaranthus oleraceus), Chinese spinach, Joseph’s coat amaranth, TP aupa (Amaranthaceae)⇫

Amaranthus tricolor is described by Peekel (1984: 166–168) as an erect plant 0.6–1.2 m tall, with many long leaves growing directly from the stem and no or almost no terminal flower cluster. Varieties with the multicoloured leaves to which tricolor refers are decorative plants in gardens in western countries, but the varieties grown as a green vegetable in gardens in India, China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomons usually have green leaves.

A number of Amaranthus species are grown in New Guinea and the Bismarcks today, but probably only Amaranthus tricolor, an ancient introduction from SE Asia, was present traditionally.¹ Others, mostly Central and South American domesticates, have been introduced by Europeans since 1870 (Bourke forthcoming, Bourke & Allen forthcoming).

Amaranthus tricolor is grown from seed in mixed gardens and gathered whole after 1-2 months growth. Some plants are left to go to seed, and the seeds stored for planting. The spinach-like leaves are, like Abelmoschus manihot, cooked in stone ovens, boiled or steamed in bamboo containers or roasted in bark (Paijmans 1976: 124-125).

The only reconstruction is at the level of PNCV:

PNCV		*keka	‘cockscomb plant, Amaranthus tricolor’
NCV	Mota	ɣeɣa	‘cockscomb plant, Amaranthus sp.’
NCV	Raga	gega	‘cockscomb plant, Amaranthus sp.’
NCV	Apma	kek	‘Amaranthus tricolor’
NCV	Namakir	kek	‘tree sp. with green leaf’

2.3. Gnetum gnemon, TP tulip (Gnetaceae)⇫

Gnetum gnemon is a small tree found in lowland forests in the Bismarcks, the Solomons, Vanuatu and Fiji, growing to between 8 and 15 m in height. Leaf stalks grow directly from the branch in pairs: hence its Tok Pisin name, tulip ‘two-leaf’ (Figure 10.3). The young leaves and shoots are widely cooked and eaten as a vegetable. It has red or orange fruit, the seeds and mesocarp of which are roasted and eaten in some areas (Paijmans 1976: 124, Evans 1999: 19-21, Hviding 2005: 139): Evans singles out the islands of the Temotu Province of the Solomons for special mention. In the wild it grows along rivers and streams, but not near the beach, as it appears to dislike salt spray (Manner & Elevitch 2006a). Peekel (1984: 37) describes it as a ‘cultivated tree’ and Kennedy & Clarke (2004) mention it in their list of species that are subject to arboriculture.

On New Britain and Manus and in the Siassi Islands the bark fibre of Gnetum gnemon is reported as being used to make ropes and string (Floyd 1954, O’Collins & Lamothe 1989, Bugenhagen & Bugenhagen 2007). On Manus the bark is also used as a wrapping material.

POc *kusaq ‘k.o. edible greens’ may have denoted Gnetum gnemon, but more widespread reflexes are needed before we can be sure of this. Like the other terms for green vegetables reconstructed in this chapter, reflexes refer to more than one kind of green vegetable.

Misima kusai provides evidence for the final *-q of POc *kusaq. Misima has borrowed much of its vocabulary from Suauic dialects: these add paragogic -i after a final consonant, and -i here points to the earlier presence of *-q.

POc		*kusaq	‘k.o. edible greens’
PT	Misima	kusai	‘Gnetum gnemon’
PT	Sudest	uða	‘Gnetum gnemon’
SES	Kwaio	ʔuta	‘Abelmoschus manihot’

2.4. Polyscias spp., panax, B nalaslas (Araliaceae)⇫

Polyscias species are erect thin shrubs between one and 5 m in height found at least as far east as Fiji. They grow wild in shady environments and have green foliage which is eaten as a green vegetable in New Guinea, the Bismarcks, the Solomons and Vanuatu. In NW Island Melanesia they are often planted (from cuttings) as hedges, but when they are cultivated in sunlight, their appearance changes, as the foliage turns pale green or yellow and cultivated shrubs are often pruned to obtain a thick bushy form. French (1986: 74) names five species growing in Papua New Guinea, namely Polyscias cumingiana, Polyscias scutellaria, Polyscias fruticosa, Polyscias macgillivrayi and Polyscias verticillata, and Henderson & Hancock (1988: 111-112) list all except the first for the Solomons (Figure 10.4). They comment that the greens have ‘a pleasant mild “curry” taste’.

Peekel (1984: 421-422) describes the first three. Polyscias cumingiana (syn. Polyscias pinnata, Polyscias rumphiana) and Polyscias scutellaria (syn. Nothopanax scutellarium, Crassula scutellaria) are tree-like shrubs respectively 2-5m and 3-6m in height, the leaves of which are used for packing fish for cooking and as a green vegetable. Hviding (2005: 122) notes that in Marovo the large green and yellow leaves of Polyscias cumingiana are used as ingredient in stews. Polyscias fruticosa (syn. Panax fruticosum, Nothopanax fruticosum ), is a smaller shrub, 0.8-3 m high, with smaller leaves. According to Gardner & Pawley (2006), on Waya juice extracted from the leaves of Polyscias was dropped into the nostrils as a cure for earache or headache.

No POc term is unambiguously reconstructable, but it is possible that the reflexes below of PSOc *(la)lawis ‘Polyscias sp.’ may be cognate with Muyuw (PT) (a)lawiluw (Damon 2004) and Lau (SES) lausi, both denoting ‘Celtis nymanii’, a small tree used in housebuilding and firewood, the leaves of which provide a cure for rheumatism (Fox 1974, Kwa’ioloa & Burt 2001: 157-158). If so, then POc *lawis, gloss unknown (a tree-like shub or small tree species), would be reconstructable. Lau lausi presents a problem, however, as it reflects a form *lawisi with final *-s and echo vowel *-i: this is a canonic NW Solomonic form, and we are forced to postulate borrowing into Lau, where such borrowings do not usually occur.

PSOc		*(la)lawis	‘Polyscias sp.’
NCV	Neve’ei	(naŋa)lelav	‘Polyscias sp.’
NCV	Tape	a-lap	‘Polyscias sp.’
NCV	Larëvat	ne-lav	‘Polyscias sp.’
SV	Sye	(i)lawih	‘Polyscias sp.’
SV	Anejom̃	(na-pʷo)jev	‘Polyscias sp.’

PNCV		*bei	‘Polyscias scutellaria’ (Lynch 2004a)
NCV	Ambae	bei	‘Polyscias sp.’
NCV	Araki	pʷe-pʷei	‘Polyscias scutellaria’
NCV	Raga	bei	‘Polyscias sp.’ (Walsh 2004)
NCV	Uripiv	na-bi	‘Polyscias scutellaria’

The items reflecting PNCV *lalaso ‘Polyscias scutellaria’ (?) below appear to be cognate with Lau, Kwara’ae (SES) lalato ‘Xylocarpus granatum’ (ch.6, §4.6). However, they are not cognate in the strict sense. Each set of items reflects an independent innovation entailing reduplication of a reflex of POc *lasoR ‘testicles’. In the case of Xylocarpus granatum the comparison is with rounded fruit that hang heavily (Kwa’ioloa & Burt 2001: 122). Explaining PNCV *lalaso is more problematic. Lynch (2004a) glosses the reconstruction ‘Polyscias scutellaria’ on the basis of the gloss of its reflexes in Paamese, Lewo, Apma, Nguna and S Efate. However, its denotation in Mota seems to be the aerial yam, Dioscorea bulbifera (ch.9, §2.1.3), and it is easy to infer a perceived resemblance between testicles and tubers on the vine. If this inference is correct, then Dioscorea bulbifera may have been the PNCV sense of *lalaso, rather than Polyscias scutellaria.

PNCV		*lalaso	‘Polyscias scutellaria’ (?; Clark 1996; gloss from Lynch 2004a)
NCV	Mota	lalaso	‘a kind of half-wild yam, with tubers on the vine’
NCV	Paamese	lelaso	‘Polyscias scutellaria’
NCV	Lewo	(puru)le	‘Polyscias scutellaria’
NCV	Apma	lalah	‘Polyscias scutellaria’
NCV	Namakir	lalah	‘yellow hedge around houses’
NCV	Nguna	na-lalaso	‘Polyscias scutellaria’
NCV	South Efate	na-ulalas	‘Polyscias scutellaria’

3. Other green vegetables⇫

3.1. Cyathea spp., B blakpam (Cyatheaceae)⇫

Among the many ferns eaten in Melanesia, there is just one tree-fern genus for which a putative POc term has been reconstructed. This is PROc *(b,bʷ)ala ‘Cyathea’. POc *(b,bʷ)ala is also reconstructed below, but only one cognate has been found outside Remote Oceania: Kove va-vala ‘cycad’. This means that we can be reasonably certain that POc *(b,bʷ)ala denoted a tree fern, but we as yet have no way of knowing for certain whether this was a Cycas or a Cyathea. The most widespread tree-fern in the Bismarcks Cyathea contaminans (syn. Alsophila latebrosa), with a stem 5-8 m tall (Peekel 1984: 9), is a good candidate for the denotation of *(b,bʷ)ala, but a better distributed cognate set is needed in order to confirm this. The Nakanai of New Britain ate the fronds of Cyathea spp. and used the trunks to make fishing spears (Floyd 1954). On Waya Island (western Fiji) the sap of the young parts of this tree-fern was applied externally to cure headaches, and the scales were used to stuff pillows. The pith of the trunk was eaten as famine food (Gardner & Pawley 2006).

POc		*(b,bʷ)ala	‘tree fern, Cycas or Cyathea sp.’
NNG	Kove	va-vala	‘cycad’
PROc		*(b,bʷ)ala	‘Cyathea sp.’
NCV	Nguna	na-pʷala	‘a fern’
SV	Sye	ni-val	‘wild coconut, Montgomery palm, Veitchia arecina’
Fij	Bauan	bala-bala	‘Cyathea spp.’ (Keppel et al. 2005)
Fij	Wayan	bala-bala	‘Cyathea lunulata’
Fij	Yasawa	bala-bala	‘tree fern, Cyathea sp.’
Pn	Niuean	pala	‘fern sp.’
Pn	Niuean	pala-tao	‘fern with huge fronds, Angiopteris evecta’
Pn	East Futunan	pala-pala	‘a tree fern’
Pn	West Futunan	para-fara	‘a tree fern’
Pn	Tikopia	para-para	‘a tree fern, Cyathea sp.’
Pn	Emae	bala-bala	‘a tree fern’
Pn	Tahitian	para	‘a root eaten in times of scarcity’
Pn	Hawaiian	pala	‘tree fern sp., Marattia douglasii’
Pn	Rarotongan	para	‘a large mountain fern, Marattia fraxinea; potato fern Marattia salicina’
Pn	Māori	para	‘King fern, Marattia salicina’

3.2. Saccharum edule, ‘coastalpitpit’ (in Papua New Guinea), TP, P pitpit, B naviso (Poaceae)⇫

Saccharum edule is a tall grass related to sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum). Henderson & Hancock (1988: 101) write, ‘It grows in a variety of locations, but seems best adapted to low altitude, where it can form quite dense stands sometimes attaining heights of four metres or more.’ It is cultivated for the unopened inflorescence (flower) at the tip of the cane, harvested as an important seasonal vegetable which is either roasted in its leafy sheath or cooked in coconut cream with other vegetables (Figure 10.5).

Saccharum edule was apparently domesticated long ago, and its several varieties are propagated only by cultivation (Barrau 1962: 157-158). It is grown from cuttings consisting of three or four nodes of the cane, i.e. 30–40 em long, and usually grows in clumps up to two or three metres in height. In Papua New Guinea it is cultivated in gardens up to an altitude of 1800 m. It is also grown in the Solomons, Vanuatu and Fiji.

It is possible that Far East Manggarai, Kepo, Waerana, Razong, Rembong (all CMP) tebor ‘Saccharum sp.’ (Verheijen 1990: 240) are cognate with the items below. If it is, then PCEMP *tabuqaR is reconstructable and the reconstruction below is elevated to POc.

PWOc		*tabuqaR	‘Saccharum edule’ (Pawley 1978: *tabukal)
NNG	Kove	tavuhai	‘Saccharum edule’ (A. Chowning, pers. comm.)2
NNG	Malai	taboɣar	‘Saccharum edule’ (Lincoln 1976)
NNG	Gitua	tabuar	‘Saccharum edule’
NNG	Takia	tabu	‘Saccharum edule’
NNG	Mapos Buang	abuχk	‘Saccharum edule’
PT	Molima	tabuʔala	‘Saccharum edule’
PT	Roro	kapua	‘Saccharum edule’
MM	Vitu	tabuɣare	‘Saccharum edule’
MM	Nakanai	tabua	‘Saccharum edule’
MM	Teop	tabuana	‘Saccharum edule’
MM	Mono-Alu	tavuala	‘Saccharum edule’ (W. McClatchey, pers. comm.)
MM	Kia	tavolohi	‘Saccharum edule’ (W. McClatchey, pers. comm.)

cf. also:

PT

Motu

tabogana

‘wild pitpit’ (for †tabu(ɣ)a: apparently borrowed)

4. Ficus spp., banyans, figs (Moraceae)⇫

4.1. Terms for classes of Ficus⇫

Worldwide there are about a thousand species of Ficus, including the common fig, F. carica. Over 500 species occur in the Asia-Pacific region. Many of them have a limited distribution. Ficus granatum, for example, is limited to Vanuatu, Ficus scabra to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa (Walter & Sam 2002: 164, 166). As a consequence, it is difficult to gloss reconstructed terms with their species, as the same term was apparently applied to similar species at different locations. The one distinction that is more easily made is between independently growing species and stranglers.

Independently growing Ficus species are usually of medium size, up to about 15 m tall, and often have edible leaves. Strangler figs, however, sometimes grow to 40 m and form part of the forest canopy. A strangler starts its life as an epiphyte high in a tree where a tiny sticky seed has been deposited in animal droppings. The new seedling grows slowly at first, getting nutrients from leaf litter. It sends out thin roots that snake down the trunk of the host tree or dangle as aerial roots from its branches. When the roots reach the ground they dig in and grow aggressively, competing with the host tree for water and nutrients. The roots form a network that encircles the host and fuses together. As the roots grow thicker they squeeze the host’s trunk, cutting off its nutrient supply. In the canopy the strangler’s leaves grow more densely than the host’s, depriving it of sunlight. Eventually the host dies from strangulation, insufficient sunlight and root competition, and the strangler fig stands on its own. If the host rots away, a hollow centre remains.

A salient feature of the genus Ficus is its figs, which technically are not fruits. A fig is a ‘false fruit’ or multiple fruit, in which the flowers and seeds grow together to form a single mass. What is commonly called the ‘fruit’ of a fig is a syconium, an almost closed receptacle with many small male and female flowers arranged on the inner surface. Technically, the fruit of a fig is one of the many seed-bearing flowers inside the syconium. The syconium typically has a bulbous shape with a small opening at the distal end that gives access to tiny wasps (Agaoninae spp.) that pollinate the flowers in the process of laying their eggs within the syconium, thus enjoying a symbiotic relationship with the fig tree.

The literature reports numerous instances of the bark, the latex or the leaves of one or other Ficus species being used for medicinal purposes. On Vanua Lava (Banks Islands, Vanuatu) latex from Artocarpus altilis and Ficus adenosperma is mixed as a potion against excessive menstrual discharge (Bourdy & Walter 1994). On Chuuk the bark of Ficus prolixa is used as medicine against evil spirits, its fruits and leaves used as medicine, and its roots are used to flavor a special breadfruit pudding (Goodenough & Sugita 1980). On Lihir the leaves are heated and rubbed on painful joints, bones, muscles. They can also be used to heal sickness after eating the wrong kind of fish. They also have ritual power, and are used to make parcels containing several other types of medicinal leaves (S. Foale 2001).

The inner bark of Ficus species is used in New Britain for male garments, and old pieces of these are used to bind the heads of children in order to elongate the skull, and for wrapping food for cooking in a stone oven (Arentz et al. 1989: 94, A. Chowning, pers. comm.). However, Mahdi (1999) shows that strangler figs have sacred and ceremonial significance across much of the Austronesian speaking region, including in Oceania at least southern Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Three POc terms for apparently superordinate Ficus taxa are reconstructable: *nunuk, *qayawan and *ba[k,g]a.

POc *nunuk denoted either a taxon including all Ficus species known to POc speakers or a taxon including just small freestanding species; it is unclear which. The fact that Peekel does not give Tolai nunu as the name for any of the 16 species for which he provides vernacular names implies that it is a generic term for all Ficus. On the other hand, the fact that the more carefully specified glosses other than Lou denote small freestanding species (Ficus aspera, F. subulata and Ficus vitiensis) suggests the latter.

Mahdi (1999) suggests either that *nunuk reflects the same root as that in POc *[qa]nunu ‘shadow’ or that some Oceanic terms for Ficus species reflect *[qa]nunu rather than *nunuk, but I see no evidence for either proposal.

PMP		*nunuk	‘banyan, Ficus benjamina’ (ACD; Mahdi 1999)
POc		*nunuk	‘fig trees, Ficus taxon’ (Ross 1996d)
Adm	Lou	nun	‘tree with numerous aerial roots, the banyan’
Adm	Lenkau	nun	‘banyan’
PT	Sudest	nunu	‘edible nut’
MM	East Kara	nunui	‘cycad’ (-i < POc *-k)
MM	Tolai	nunu	‘banyan tree’
MM	Ramoaaina	nunu	‘banyan tree’
MM	Nehan	nun	‘Ficus sp.’
MM	Varisi	nunu(ra)	‘Ficus copiosa’ (W. McClatchey, pers. comm.)
NCV	Maewo	nunue	‘Ficus aspera’ (Walter and Sam 2002: 293) 3
SV	Sye	(novo)nuɣ	‘Ficus subulata’
Fij	Bauan	nunu	‘fig tree taxon, including Ficus vitiensis and other freestanding species’ (J. Parham 1972: 137-139)

It is probable that *qayawan denoted a strangler fig taxon. The Gedaged, Kara, Tolai and Patpatar reflexes each denote a taxon of strangler figs: Ficus benjamina (‘weeping fig, Java fig, Java willow’), F. katabibi and F. rebareba are described by Peekel (1984: 139) as stranglers.⁴ The Micronesian and Niuean reflexes denote Ficus prolixa, also a strangler. Kara, Tolai and Patpatar are located in New Ireland, i.e. in the Oceanic heartland of the Bismarcks, and I assume that they are likely to retain the original sense of *qayawan, whereas Ficus tinctoria (Muyuw, Wayan) and Ficus pritchardii (Wayan), neither of them stranglers, are more likely to reflect shifts in denotation. Whether POc *qayawan denoted a taxon which included all strangler fig species or just a subset, we cannot tell.

PEMP		*qayawan	‘banyan tree, Ficus sp.’ (Blust 1978a: *ayawan)
POc		*qayawan	‘Ficus strangler fig taxon’ (Ross 1996d)
PAdm		*qaiwa	‘banyan, Ficus spp.’ (Blust 1996b)
Adm	Wuvulu	aiwa	‘banyan tree’
Adm	Nauna	kew	‘banyan’
Adm	Titan	yew	‘banyan’
SJ	Sobei	eya	‘banyan’
NNG	Amara	(a)kao	‘Ficus sp.’
NNG	Gitua	aiowan	‘Ficus sp. with short leaf; sometimes chewed with poapoa bark in lieu of betel’
NNG	Gedaged	aiau	‘several spp. of strangler fig, Ficus’
NNG	Takia	ayao	‘Ficus sp.’
NNG	Numbami	aiyowana	‘banyan’
NNG	Wogeo	vaiawa	‘banyan tree’
NNG	Kairiru	ayou	‘ficus tree’
PT	Muyuw	(a)gi-gaway	‘Ficus tinctoria (metathesis < *gayaw)’
PT	Tawala	kiyaha	‘tree type, edible fig’
MM	East Kara	iuan	‘Ficus benjamina, F. katabibi and F. rebareba’
MM	Tolai	kiau, kuiau	‘Ficus benjamina, F. katabibi, F. rebareba, Ficus prolixa’ (Record 1945: kuiau ‘Flagellaria indica’)
MM	Patpatar	kiaua	‘Ficus benjamina, F. katabibi and F. rebareba’
MM	Babatana	kanava (pitalata)	‘Ficus copiosa’ (W. McClatchey, pers. comm.)
MM	Nduke	eana	‘Ficus spp.’
SV	Kwamera	(nəsu-)aio	‘banyan sp., bark used for tapa cloth’
Mic	Nauruan	eaeo	‘Ficus prolixa’
Mic	Kiribati	aiao	‘Ficus prolixa’
Mic	Ponapean	aiaw	‘Ficus prolixa var. carolinensis’5
Mic	Chuukese	āw	‘Ficus prolixa var. carolinensis’
Mic	Carolinian	ao	‘banyan tree’ (Christian 1899: 350)
PCP		*qayawa	‘Ficus spp.’
Fij	Bauan	yaðawa	‘banyan tree, Ficus sp.’
Fij	Wayan	āwa	‘Ficus pritchardii, Ficus tinctoria’
Fij	Rotuman	äeva	‘banyan tree’
PPn		*qawa	‘banyan tree, Ficus prolixa (?)’
Pn	Tongan	ʔovava	‘banyan tree, Ficus prolixa and Ficus obliqua’ (Whistler 1991b: 99-100)
Pn	Niuean	ovava	‘banyan tree, Ficus prolixa’
Pn	Emae	raoa	‘banyan’
Pn	Rennellese	ʔaoa	‘banyan, Ficus benjamini’
Pn	Tikopia	āoa	‘banyan tree, Ficus sp.’
Pn	Samoan	āoa	‘banyan tree, Ficus prolixa and Ficus obliqua’ (Whistler 2000: 157)
Pn	Rarotongan	aoa	‘banyan tree’

POc *qayawan also seems to have a second set of reflexes in Micronesia. A putative PMic *kawani ‘Ficus sp.’ can be reconstructed. However, the correspondences here - especially the word-final reflexes of *n - indicate that this is an early borrowing via the Caroline Islands from a western Austronesian language.

Mic	Kosraean	kɔn(-yɛ)	‘banyan tree’
Mic	Chuukese	əwə̄r	‘Ficus tinctoria’
Mic	Puluwatese	yawann	‘banyan’
Mic	Satawalese	awal	‘banyan’
Mic	Woleaian	gewann	‘banyan’
Mic	Ulithian	howel	‘banyan’

POc *ba[k,g]a denoted a taxon of freestanding, medium-sized Ficus species. Denotata of reflexes include Ficus nodosa, Ficus wassa, Ficus prolixa, Ficus obliqua, Ficus mutabilis and Ficus tinctoria, none of them stranglers. ⁶

The items under ‘cf. also’ are probably not cognate. Three of them point to a term for a nut tree, a species of either Canarium or Terminalia, but data are insufficient to reconstruct this term. Mahdi (1999) suggests that this term is cognate with Western Malaya-Polynesian terms reflecting a putative *pakat ‘root’.

POc		*ba(k,g)a	‘banyan tree, medium-sized Ficus spp., not stranglers’ (Biggs 1965: *baka; Ross 1996d)
MM	Sursurunga	pak	‘tree sp.’
MM	Patpatar	paka	‘Ficus nodosa’
MM	Tolai	paka	‘Ficus sp. (Record 1945)’
MM	Roviana	pako-pako	‘Ficus wassa’ (Henderson and Hancock 1988: 125)
PROc		*baga	‘Ficus spp.; generic for Ficus?’
NCV	Mota	paka	‘banyan, various spp.’
NCV	Araki	(vi)tᫀaka	‘banyan spp.’
NCV	Nduindui	(vi)v-voɣe	‘Ficus wassa’ (Walter and Sam 2002: 293)
NCV	Raga	baga	‘Ficus sp.’ (Walsh 2004)
NCV	Lonwolwol	bak	‘banyan’
NCV	Port Sandwich	na-mbaŋg	‘banyan, Ficus bengalensis’
NCV	Southeast Ambrym	veak	‘Ficus wassa’ (Walter and Sam 2002: 293)
NCV	Paamese	a-veka	‘Ficus sp.’
NCV	Nguna	na-paga	‘banyan, Ficus bengalensis’
NCV	Namakir	bag	‘banyan, Ficus bengalensis’
NCV	South Efate	mpak	‘Ficus spp.’
SV	Sye	n-paŋ	‘banyan, generic’
SV	Lenakel	nə-pək	‘banyan, generic’
SV	Kwamera	nə-pek	‘banyan, generic’
SV	Anejom̃	(n)pak	‘banyan’
NCal	Nemi	(ce)baŋ	‘Ficus mutabilis’
NCal	Jawe	(ce)baŋ	‘Ficus mutabilis’
NCal	Iaai	bɨk	‘Ficus prolixa’
Fij	Wayan	baka	‘banyan taxon, including Ficus obliqua, Ficus prolixa and Ficus tinctoria’
Fij	Bauan	baka	‘Ficus obliqua’

cf. also:

Adm	Mussau	paka	‘Terminalia catappa’
Adm	Mussau	baga(laim)	‘large variety of Malay apple, Syzygium gomata’
Adm	Titan	baga-bak	‘tree sp. with nut-like fruit’
MM	Tolai	baga	‘Canarium mehenbethene (Record 1945)’

4.2. Ficus copiosa and Ficus wassa, sandpaper cabbage, sandpaper fig, TP kumu musong (Moraceae)⇫

Bourke (n.d.) names three lowland indigenous Ficus species in Papua New Guinea that have edible figs: Ficus copiosa (TP kumu musong), Ficus wassa and Ficus tinctoria. They are small freestanding trees or shrubs and grow both in the highlands and in the lowlands. The three species are self-sown and there is no evidence of cultivation in Papua New Guinea. The figs of the three species are eaten, particularly those of Ficus copiosa, which are eaten raw. However, the main food product of these species in Papua New Guinea, and again especially of Ficus copiosa, is their young leaves, which are used as a green vegetable (in Papua New Guinea by about one-third of the rural population; Bourke & Allen forthcoming). The Tok Pisin term kumu musong means ‘hairy greens’.

Ficus copiosa and Ficus wassa are similar (Figure 10.6). Both rejoice in the name ‘sandpaper cabbage’ in the Solomons because of their coarse texture (even when cooked). The leaves of Ficus wassa are more abrasive than those of Ficus copiosa, and therefore somewhat less popular as food (Henderson & Hancock 1988: 123, 125)

Ficus copiosa (syn. F. longipedunculata, F. acanthrophylla) has twigs covered in bristles (Peekel 1984: 141). It grows widely in New Guinea, the Bismarcks and the Solomons. In Marovo Ficus copiosa is traditionally an important leaf vegetable, and young leaves and shoots are either cooked in coconut cream or mixed with crushed smoked Canarium nuts (Hviding 2005: 138).

Ficus wassa (syn. F. portus-finschii, F. papus (Peekel), F. uauasie (Peekel) is a tree 5-20 m tall with twigs that are hairy and pungent and figs that turn red when ripe (Peekel 1984: 141). It is found from eastern Indonesia through New Guinea, the Bismarcks and the Solomons to Vanuatu (Walter & Sam 2002: 168). The leaves of the wild trees are cooked as a vegetable in Papua New Guinea, the Solomons and Vanuatu (Henderson & Hancock 1988: 125, Wheatley 1992: 170–172). In Vanuatu green figs are eaten cooked. Figs ripen quickly, and must be eaten immediately. Lactating women regularly eat the leaves, which are said to stimulate milk production (Walter & Sam 2002: 168-169).

There is enough agreement among the meanings of reflexes of POc *iguRa to suggest that it had sandpapery leaves and denoted either Ficus copiosa or Ficus wassa or both.

POc		*iguRa	‘Ficus species with sandpapery leaves, either Ficus copiosa or Ficus wassa or both’ (Chowning 2001)
MM	Nakanai	igura	‘Ficus sp. with sandpapery leaves’
MM	Patpatar	ikur-kur	‘Ficus gut’
PT	Bwaidoga	(a)ikula	‘banyan’
PT	Motu	igula(ra)	‘Ficus sp.’
SES	Bugotu	igula	‘sandpaper cabbage, Ficus wassa’ (Henderson and Hancock 1988: 125)
SES	Kwaio	igula	‘tree sp., leaves of which are used to polish wood’

POc *pʷabosi is the most likely candidate for a term denoting Ficus wassa. All named reflexes denote a small or medium-sized freestanding Ficus sp. The set below, from which I tentatively reconstruct POc *pʷabosi, contains some doublets and a number of phonological irregularities, especially in regard to the bilabials. I infer that the two POc bilabials were not identical, but that assimilation has operated to make them so in several reflexes. Doublets are probably the outcomes of local borrowings. An interstage ancestral to Solos, Petats and probably Teop replaced the initial bilabial obstruent with *u-.

POc		*pʷabosi	‘freestanding small or medium-sized Ficus sp., probably Ficus wassa’
NNG	Bing	bubōs	‘wild fig tree (poor quality wood)’
MM	Nakanai	vovosi	‘Ficus sp., with edible leaves’ (-v- for †-b-)
MM	East Kara	[ka]pavus	‘small Ficus sp., Ficus wassa’ (Peekel 1984: 141)
MM	Patpatar	habos	‘Ficus pachystemon’7
MM	Patpatar	papus	‘Ficus wassa’
MM	Tolai	papu(-kubar)	‘Ficus wassa’
MM	Tolai	uauai(na)	‘Ficus pachystemon’ (Holdsworth 1975b)
MM	Nehan	boh	‘Ficus spp.’
MM	Solos	uabos	‘Ficus sp.’ (Holdsworth 1977: Noupan village)
MM	Petats	uabos	‘Ficus sp.’
MM	Teop	ivoi	‘Ficus sp.’
MM	Teop	poi	‘Ficus sp.’
PSOc		*(b(a,o))bosi	‘Ficus sp.’ (Lynch 2004a)
NCV	Mwotlap	no-woh	‘Ficus aspera’
NCV	Apma	wowos	‘Ficus wassa’
PSV		*na-bVbosi	‘Ficus sp.’ (Lynch 2004a)
SV	Kwamera	nu-kʷesi	‘fig sp.’
SV	Anejom̃	ne-ppaθ	‘Ficus sp.’
NCal	Nemi	bo	‘banyan sp. without aerial roots’
NCal	Jawe	bo	‘banyan sp. without aerial roots’

POc *qa(l,R)a may have been another term for Ficus copiosa (§4.2).

PMP		*qaRaʔ	‘Ficus spp.’ (Blust 1986)
POc		*qa(l,R)a	‘Ficus sp.’
NNG	Gedaged	ala	‘tree sp.’
MM	Nakanai	kaloli	‘Ficus sp., probably Ficus copiosa’ (A. Chowning, pers. comm.)
MM	Tolai	kala-kala, kaka	‘Ficus copiosa’
MM	Patpatar	kala-kala	‘Ficus copiosa’
MM	Roviana	kala-la	‘banyan, Ficus sp.’
MM	Marovo	kala-la	‘banyan, Ficus spp.’
SES	To’aba’ita	θala	‘Ficus variegata’

4.3. Ficus tinctoria, dye fig (Moraceae)⇫

Ficus tinctoria is an erect shrub 2-4 m tall with yellow-orange or red edible figs, found on coral rocks and cliffs on the foreshore or inland in coral soil. It is distributed from India and China through SE Asia, New Guinea and right through the islands as far as western Polynesia, but is absent from New Caledonia (Peekel 1984: 147, Walter & Sam 2002: 169). Its leaves are a green vegetable in Papua New Guinea (Bourke n.d.).

POc *taŋa appears to have denoted Ficus tinctoria. This is its meaning in New Ireland. In southern Vanuatu it denotes Ficus granatum, another medium-sized freestanding species with edible figs, limited in its distribution to Vanuatu (Walter & Sam 2002: 163-164).

POc		*taŋa	‘Ficus tinctoria’
MM	East Kara	taŋa	‘Ficus tinctoria’
MM	Patpatar	(saŋa)taŋa	‘Ficus tinctoria’
MM	Tolai	taŋa(tata)	‘Ficus tinctoria’

PSV		*na-təŋ	‘Ficus sp.’ (Lynch 2004a)
SV	Sye	na-toŋ	‘Ficus granatum’
SV	Lenakel	na-reŋ	‘Ficus granatum’
SV	Kwamera	ne-rəŋ	‘k.o. tree with stinging leaves’
SV	Anejom̃	na-teŋ	‘Ficus adenosperma’

POc *(c,j)api appears to have denoted a species with edible leaves, possibly Ficus tinctoria.

PMP		*jabi	‘Ficus sp.’ (Blust 1972b)
POc		*(c,j)api	‘Ficus sp.’ (Ross 1996d)
NNG	Mapos Buang	dɛ̄v	‘Ficus sp.; the leaftips are eaten’
Fij	Bauan	savi(rewa)	‘Ficus tinctoria’

4.4. Other names for Ficus species⇫

The reconstructions below denote Ficus species, but it is not usually certain which one(s).

It is possible that POc *seRa denoted Ficus adenosperma, a freestanding tree 5-15 m tall with green or yellow figs that are eaten in times of food shortage in some communities (Peekel 1984: 147; Walter & Sam 2002: 169).

POc		*seRa	‘Ficus sp., perhaps Ficus adenosperma’
Adm	Mussau	si	‘Ficus sp.’
MM	Patpatar	sera	‘Ficus adenosperma’
MM	Tolai	ere	‘Ficus adenosperma’
MM	Nehan	her	‘Ficus sp.’

POc *bauRa may have denoted a species of strangler fig.

POc		*bauRa	‘Ficus sp.’ (perhaps a strangler fig)
NNG	Mapos Buang	báuk	‘Ficus sp.’
SES	Lau	baola	‘banyan’
SES	Kwara’ae	baola	‘strangler fig, Ficus microcarpa’

The glosses give no real clue to the denotatum of POc *ka(mʷa)-kamʷa, other than that it was perhaps a freestanding species.

POc		*ka(mʷa)-kamʷa	‘Ficus sp., perhaps Ficus nodosa’
PT	Misima	ka-kamʷa	‘k.o. tree, with small, rounded, light green leathery leaves and white and motley-coloured bark and small, fig-shaped fruit.’
MM	Madak	kem-kem	‘Ficus nodosa’
SES	Santa Ana	kamʷa-kamʷa	‘sandpaper cabbage, Ficus wassa’

The gloss of PNCV *buliva is clearly Ficus scabra (a species found only in central and souther Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and western Polynesia; Walter & Sam 2002: 166), but the denotation of PEOc *bulipa remains unclear.

PEOc		*bulipa	‘Ficus sp.’ (Clark 1996: PNCV *buliva)
SES	Kwara’ae	bu-bulia	‘Ficus austrina’
PNCV		*buliva	‘Ficus scabra’
NCV	Mota	puliva	‘a climbing Ficus; the leaves cooked and eaten’
NCV	Apma	bʷilip	‘Ficus scabra’ (Walter and Sam 2002)
NCV	Maewo	gʷiliva	‘Ficus scabra’ (Walter and Sam 2002)
NCV	Raga	buliva	‘Ficus sp.’
NCV	Uripiv	bʷiliw	‘Ficus scabra, Ficus septica’
NCV	Lonwolwol	bulva	‘wild cotton, burau tree’
NCV	Lewo	(puru)piliva	‘Ficus scabra’ (Walter and Sam 2002)
NCV	Nguna	na-puliva	‘sycamore’
NCV	Namakir	na-biliv	‘Ficus scabra’ (Walter and Sam 2002)
NCV	South Efate	na-plip	‘Ficus granatum’

PSOc		*rivu-rivu	‘small or medium-sized freestanding Ficus sp.’ (Lynch 2004a)
NCV	Ambae	(va)rivu	‘nambalanggo, i.e. Ficus wassa’
NCV	Raga	revrevo	‘Ficus obliqua’ (Walsh 2004)
NCV	Uripiv	awɾaw	‘Ficus tinctoria’
SV	Sye	na-revrep	‘Ficus obliqua’
SV	Kwamera	(kʷa)ruviru	‘Ficus sp.’
SV	Anejom̃	ne-rere	‘Ficus obliqua’

Notes⇫