Māori names for soils

Oneone means soil. Māori gardeners had at least 60 names for types of soil.

Name	Description
One-pū	sand
One nui	rich soil, consisting of clay, sand and decayed organic material
One-matua	typically a loam
One mata	dark fertile soil
Tuatara wawata	brown friable fertile soil suitable for kūmara
One-pārakiwai	silt
One paraumu	very dark fertile soil, friable
One hanahana	Dark soil mixed with gravel or small stones
One haruru	Light but good soil; sand and loam
One hunga	sea sand, sandy beach, sometimes mixed with mud
One kopuru	soil found in wet situations
One kōkopu	gravel, or very gravelly soil
One kura	reddish, poor soil
One pākirikiri	soil containing gravel
One parahuhu	alluvium (also parahua)
One punga	light spongy soil
One tai	sandy soil, near tidal flats, near beach
One tea	white soil, sandy volcanic material
One takataka	friable soil
One tuatara	stiff brown soil, needing sand or gravel worked in
One wawata	lumpy soil
Kirikiri tuatara	fertile brown soil
Kōtae	alluvial soil
One tea	light sandy soil, near Dargaville.
Kenepuru	sandy silt
Kere was used as a prefix for some types of clay, including keretū, kerematua and kerewhenua:
Keretū	clay
Kerematua	stiff clay
Kerewhenua	yellow clay
Kereone	sandy earth, e.g., near Morrinsville
Kōtore	white clay
Taioma	pipe clay
Uku	unctous clay, white or bluish
Uku whenua	plastic clay (old traditional name)
Matapaia	a clay when baked hard was used as a stone for cooking