Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, has welcomed an invitation to bury her placenta in a symbolic gesture that would honour a Maori tradition.

The 37-year-old leader, who announced last month that she was expecting a baby in June, was responding to the request from Maori leaders to bury the organ at a historical meeting site linked to the founding of the modern state of New Zealand.

"The fact that the suggestion was made and that there were elders alongside me who really acknowledged that - it felt like a significant gesture, a really symbolic one and it meant a lot to me,” she said.

"That is something of course I would like to talk to my partner Clarke [Gayford] about; we haven't had that opportunity yet."

The request was made as Ms Ardern became the nation’s first female leader to address a historic Maori welcoming ceremony. Burying placentas is a traditional Maori custom.