Phormium tenax

Phormium tenax (called flax in New Zealand English; harakeke in Māori; New Zealand flax[1] outside New Zealand; and New Zealand hemp[1] in historical nautical contexts) is an evergreen perennial plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island that is an important fibre plant and a popular ornamental plant.[2] The plant grows as a clump of long, straplike leaves, up to two metres long, from which arises a much taller flowering shoot, with dramatic yellow or red flowers.[2]

Phormium tenax
A New Zealand flax plant with tall flower stems
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asphodelaceae
Subfamily: Hemerocallidoideae
Genus: Phormium
Species:
P. tenax
Binomial name
Phormium tenax
Tui on New Zealand flax

The fibre has been widely used since the arrival of Māori to New Zealand, originally in Māori traditional textiles and also in rope and sail making[3] after the arrival of Europeans until at least WWII. It is an invasive species in some of the Pacific Islands and in Australia.[4]

The blades of the plant contain cucurbitacins, which are poisonous to some animals, and some of them are among the bitterest tastes to humans.[5]

Ecology

The jumping spider Trite planiceps lives predominantly in the rolled-up leaves of this species. Phormium tenax is a coastal cover plant associated with significant habitat such as the breeding habitat for the endangered yellow-eyed penguin.[6]

Cultivation

Phormium tenax had many uses in traditional Māori society. It was the main material used for weaving, adopted after aute (paper mulberry), the traditional tree used to create fabric in Polynesia, did not thrive in New Zealand's climate.[7] Many of the traditional uses have largely fallen into disuse, though there is an upswing in the use of traditional materials in modern Māori art and craft. The two most common forms for flax in traditional craft are the use of stripped, dried leaves as broad bands, such as in the weaving of kete (flax baskets), and the scraping, pounding, and washing of the leaves to create a fibre — muka — which is used in tāniko (weaving) of soft, durable fabric for clothing. Flax is also used as a decorative and structural element in tukutuku, panelling found within Mãori wharenui (meeting houses).

A worker feeding a flax leaf into a stripper

Prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s, which decimated flax as an industry, there were two serious attempts by Europeans to breed for fibre. The first was by Wellington-based Leonard Cockayne about 1908.[8] The second by Massey-based John Stuart Yeates in the late 1920s.[9][10]

New Zealand Flax was cultivated on Saint Helena from the late 1800s to around 1966 for the production of string and rope and for export.[11] Today the plants remain but the industry has stopped; they are considered an ecological problem.[12]

Ornamental

In recent times, P. tenax and its cousin P. colensoi have been widely cultivated as ornamental garden plants, their striking fans of pointed leaves providing a focal point in mixed plantings or at the edge of a lawn. They are easy to grow in a sunny spot, especially in coastal areas with some protection in winter, but require reliably moist soil. They are frequently found in garden centres amongst plants with a similar appearance, notably Yucca and Cordyline. However, these are very different plants with different requirements. P. tenax and some cultivars can grow to a substantial size - 4 m (13 ft) tall by 2 m (7 ft) broad.[13]

Cultivars

More recently several cultivars have been selected as decorative garden plants, including:[14]

  • 'Bronze Baby' - arching bronze leaves, 2-to-3-foot (0.61 to 0.91 m) plant.
  • 'Dazzler' - arching leaves that are bronze-maroon with red and pink stripes, plant reaches 3 feet in height
  • 'Duet'agm[15]
  • 'Sundowner'agm[16] - 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) plant, leaves are striped with bronze, green and rose-pink
  • 'Variegatum'agm[17]
  • 'Yellow Wave'agm[18]

Those marked agm have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[19]

See also

References
  1. "Phormium tenax". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  2. Roger Holmes and Lance Walheim. 2005. California Home Landscaping, Creative Homeowner Press ISBN 978-1-58011-254-3
  3. http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Gov09_02Rail-t1-body-d7-d2.html
  4. "Phormium tenax (PIER species info)". Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER). 9 January 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  5. Kupchan, S.Morris; Meshulam, Haim; Sneden, Albert T. (1978). "New cucurbitacins from Phormium tenax and Marah oreganus". Phytochemistry. 17 (4): 767–769. doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(00)94223-7.
  6. C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Yellow-eyed Penguin: Megadypes antipodes, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg Archived 2011-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Tamarapa, Awhina (2011). Māori Cloaks. Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-1-877385-56-8.
  8. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=DOM19080507.2.60
  9. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19291221.2.108
  10. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19300920.2.20
  11. http://sainthelenaisland.info/flax.htm
  12. http://sainthelenaisland.info/endemics.htm
  13. RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965.
  14. Frances Tenenbaum. 2003. "Taylor's Encyclopedia of Garden Plants", Houghton Mifflin Company ISBN 0-618-22644-3
  15. "RHS Plant Selector - Phormium 'Duet'". Archived from the original on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  16. "RHS Plant Selector - Phormium 'Sundowner'". Archived from the original on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  17. "RHS Plant Selector - Phormium tenax 'Variegatum'". Archived from the original on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  18. "RHS Plant Selector - Phormium 'Yellow Wave'". Archived from the original on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  19. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 78. Retrieved 25 April 2018.

Further reading
  • James Hector. 1889. Phormium tenax as a fibrous plant, second edition, New Zealand. Geological Survey Dept, New Zealand, published by G. Didsbury, Government Printer, 95 pages
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