Titoki Bay is named for the groves of titoki trees that grew there. Titoki seeds and leaves were prized by Māori for mixing with flowers to make perfumed oil, usually reserved for chiefly persons of high rank.
The titoki has a large black seed with an appendage called an arvil which when pressed produced the oil substance. This titoki oil was known to have good medicinal properties, and was also used externally for sores, chafed skin and wounds, aching ears and as an insect repellent.
Sources
- Louis Vangioni, Māori names & traditions — points of interest around Akaroa Harbour The Akaroa Mail, 1970
- Louis J. Vangioni; with supplementary notes by D. J. C. Pringle, Old Maori place names around Akaroa Harbour, Akaroa : Akaroa Mail, 1967
