Cordyline pumilio

Cordyline pumilio, commonly known as the dwarf cabbage tree, pygmy cabbage tree or by its Māori names tī koraha or tī rauriki, is a narrow-leaved monocot shrub endemic to New Zealand.

The plant was well known to Māori, who cultivated it for its sugar-laden roots and stems before its discovery and naming by Europeans.

In older plants the bare part of stem is up to 1 metre (3.3 feet) long and 1.5 cm (less than an inch) wide, and not usually very erect.

The flower spike or panicle appears in November or December and is up to 60 by 30 cm (1.97 by 0.98 ft), very open with slender axes, branched to the second order, with small white or bluish-white flowers irregularly scattered along the branches.

Young seedlings were carefully selected and planted out, and after perhaps three years the roots were dug up, stacked in small piles, and dried in the sun.