''Phormium tenax'' (called flax in

New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the populati ...

; in Māori; New Zealand flax outside New Zealand; and New Zealand hemp in historical nautical contexts) is an evergreen

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

plant native to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

that is an important

fibre Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorp ...

plant and a popular ornamental plant.Roger Holmes and Lance Walheim. 2005. ''California Home Landscaping'', Creative Homeowner Press 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. Despite being commonly known as 'flax', harakeke is of the genus ''Phormium'', a monocot, and is a leaf fibre, whereas flax (linen) is of the genus ''Linum'', a rosid, and is a bast fibre (which comes from the stem of the plant). The two plants have an evolutionary extremely distant relationship with each other. 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 after the arrival of Europeans until at least WWII. It is an invasive species in some of the Pacific Islands and in Australia. The blades of the plant contain

cucurbitacin Cucurbitacins are a class of biochemistry, biochemical compounds that some plants – notably members of the pumpkin and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae – produce and which function as a defense against herbivores. Cucurbitacins and their deriva ...

s, which are poisonous to some animals, and some of them are among the bitterest tastes to humans.

Taxonomy

''Phormium tenax'' J.R.Forst & G.Forst was described in 1776 by

Johann Reinhold Forster Johann Reinhold Forster (; 22 October 1729 – 9 December 1798) was a German Reformed pastor and naturalist. Born in Tczew, Dirschau, Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772), Pomeranian Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Tczew, Po ...

and

Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (; 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German geography, geographer, natural history, naturalist, ethnology, ethnologist, travel literature, travel writer, journalist and revol ...

, who were the father and son team of German botanists on the

second voyage of James Cook The second voyage of James Cook, from 1772 to 1775, commissioned by the British government with advice from the Royal Society, was designed to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to finally determine whether there was any great s ...

Etymology

The ''hara'' in the Māori name ''harakeke'' is a remnant of the Austronesian root ''*paŋudaN'' (via

Proto-Oceanic Proto-Oceanic (abbreviated as POc) is a proto-language that comparative linguistics, historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic languages, Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian ...

''*padran'') surviving in related languages referring to

pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified ...

plants with similar characteristics of sheathing leaves also used for weaving (like ''

Pandanus tectorius ''Pandanus tectorius'' is a species of ''Pandanus'' (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English inclu ...

'', also known as ''hala'' in Hawaiian), as New Zealand was one of the only places where pandanus was not available.

Ecology

The

jumping spider Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family (biology), family Salticidae. , this family contained over 600 species description, described genus, genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spide ...

'' 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 An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

yellow-eyed penguin.

Māori traditional uses

New Zealand flax was one of the most commonly used fibres for weaving prior to European contact in New Zealand, due to its wide availability and long strands. Harakeke can be woven raw to create open-weave items (where the ''para'' or the waterproof

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and Subcutaneous tissue, hypodermis. The epidermal layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the ...

of the plant is kept intact), or processed so only the muka remains, for close-weave objects. The broad length of harakeke leaves allow weavers to create a variety of strip lengths, making the plant suitable for a range of objects and sizes. In pre-European society, Māori had specific plantations of flax, which was their most important textile. It was prepared by cutting the green leaves close to the base before the leaves were split and woven. Various preparations of the leaves allowed the material to be used both as a hardy flat thick-woven material (as in kete and mats) and also as a fibrous twine, used for creating both rope and finely woven cloaks. Harakeke can be boiled with hot stones to bleach strips, however dying the fibre is difficult due to the water resistant ''para''. However, harakeke can by dyed using ''paru'', or an iron-rich mud. Harakeke can be made more flexible with less shrinkage using the ''hapine'' technique, where a knife or shell is run across the fibre to remove moisture without breaking the surface layers.

Cultivation

''Phormium tenax'' had many uses in traditional Māori society. It was the main material used for weaving, adopted after aute (

paper mulberry The paper mulberry (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', syn. ''Morus papyrifera'' L.) is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia,Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, did not thrive in New Zealand's "Scientific Plant Breeding" climate. 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 Māori ''

wharenui A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''wikt:wh ...

'' (meeting houses). Prior to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

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 Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

-based

Leonard Cockayne Leonard Cockayne (7 April 1855 – 8 July 1934) is regarded as New Zealand's greatest botanist and a founder of Western science in New Zealand. Biography He was born in Sheffield, England where he attended Wesley College. He travelled to Aus ...

about 1908. The second by Massey-based John Stuart Yeates in the late 1920s. More recently research led by Xiaowen Yuan at

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

has investigated the use of novel composite materials made from flax fibre to improve

supercapacitor alt=Supercapacitor, upright=1.5, Schematic illustration of a supercapacitor upright=1.5, A diagram that shows a hierarchical classification of supercapacitors and capacitors of related types A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, ...

performance. New Zealand Flax was cultivated on

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

from the late 1800s to around 1966 for the production of string and rope and for export. Today the plants remain but the industry has stopped; they are considered an ecological problem.

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 ''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...

'' and ''

Cordyline ''Cordyline'' is a genus of about 24 species of woody monocotyledonous flowering plants in family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Lomandroideae. The subfamily has previously been treated as a separate family Laxmanniaceae, or Lomandrace ...

''. However, these are very different plants with different requirements. ''P. tenax'' and some cultivars can grow to a substantial size - tall by broad.

Cultivars

More recently several

cultivars A cultivar is a kind of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and which retains those traits when propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cult ...

have been selected as decorative garden plants, including: *'Bronze Baby' - arching bronze leaves, plant. *'Dazzler' - arching leaves that are bronze-maroon with red and pink stripes, plant reaches 3 feet in height *'Duet' *Purpureum Group *'Sundowner' - plant, leaves are striped with bronze, green and rose-pink *'Variegatum' *'Yellow Wave' Those marked have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

References

External links

Harakeke image gallery from Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua
{{Authority control Crops originating from New Zealand Fiber plants Flora of the Auckland Islands Garden plants of New Zealand Hemerocallidoideae Medicinal plants Perennial plants Plants used in traditional Māori medicine Austronesian agriculture Taxa named by Johann Reinhold Forster Taxa named by Georg Forster Species described in 1776 Flora of New Zealand Flora of Norfolk Island Māori cuisine