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Asphodelaceae
New Zealand Flax
Phormium tenax
Strength, weaving heritage, Maori culture.
- Family
- Asphodelaceae
- Genus
- Phormium
- Native to
- New Zealand
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- Perennial
- Height
- 2–4 m (6.5–13 ft) in flower
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average to wet, well-drained
- Water
- Low to moderate
- Hardiness
- 8–11
- Lifespan
- Long-lived perennial
Did you know
- Despite the name, New Zealand flax isn't related to true flax—it's actually a giant lily relative whose tough leaves were the most important fiber plant in pre-European Maori culture.
- The flower spikes can shoot up 15 feet in a single summer, towering over the sword-like leaves and dripping with red tubular blooms full of nectar for tui birds.
- Maori weavers used over 60 named varieties of flax (harakeke), each prized for different qualities—softness for clothing, strength for ropes, length for fishing nets.
- Phormium fiber was so strong that it became a major colonial export from the 1800s—used worldwide in ship rope, fishing line, and the backing for woven straw hats.
- Native New Zealanders consider it tapu (sacred) to cut the central young leaf of a flax plant—it's called the 'rito' (child), and harming it harms the plant's whakapapa (ancestry).
Color meanings
0
strength
1
weaving heritage
2
Maori spirit