phormium

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae}}

{{About|the genus|the fiber made from these plants|Flax in New Zealand}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = New Zealand flax

| image = Phormium tenax Piha02.jpg

| image_caption = Phormium tenax in bloom in Piha, West Auckland, New Zealand

| taxon = Phormium

| authority = J.R. Forst. & G. Forst.

| type_species = Phormium tenax

| type_species_authority =

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

Phormium colensoi
Phormium tenax

}}

Phormium is a genus of two plant species in the family Asphodelaceae. One species is endemic to New Zealand and the other is native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island.{{cite book|author1=Moore, L.B. |author2=Edgar, E. |title=Flora of New Zealand. Vol. II. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Monocotyledones except Gramineae|year=1970|location=Wellington, N. Z.}} The two species are widely known in New Zealand as flax or their Māori names wharariki and harakeke respectively, and elsewhere as New Zealand flax or flax lily, but they are not closely related to the Northern Hemisphere's flax (Linum usitatissimum), which is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and has been used by humans since 30,000 B.C.{{cite journal | last1 = Balter | first1 = M | year = 2009 | title = Clothes make the (Hu) Man | journal = Science | volume = 325 | issue = 5946| page = 1329 | doi = 10.1126/science.325_1329a | pmid = 19745126 }}{{cite journal | last1 = Kvavadze | first1 = E | last2 = Bar-Yosef | first2 = O | last3 = Belfer-Cohen | first3 = A | last4 = Boaretto | first4 = E | last5 = Jakeli | first5 = N | last6 = Matskevich | first6 = Z | last7 = Meshveliani | first7 = T | year = 2009 | title = 30,000-Year-Old Wild Flax Fibers | url = http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4270521| journal = Science | volume = 325 | issue = 5946| page = 1359 | doi = 10.1126/science.1175404 | pmid = 19745144 | bibcode = 2009Sci...325.1359K | s2cid = 206520793 | url-access = subscription }} [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/data/325/5946/1359/DC1/1 Supporting Online Material]

Taxonomy

Monocot classification has undergone significant revision in the past decade, and recent classification systems (including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) have found Phormium to be closely related to daylilies (Hemerocallis), placing it in family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. Phormium formerly belonged to the family Agavaceae and many classification systems still place it there. It includes two species and many cultivars.

=Species=

Flower	Plant	Name	Distribution
class="wikitable"
120px	120px	Phormium colensoi {{small\|Hook.f.}}	New Zealand ( South Island, North Island)
120px	120px	Phormium tenax {{small\|J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.}}	New Zealand and Norfolk Island.

The genus was originally established by the German naturalists Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster in 1775 from specimens of Phormium tenax collected by both Forsters and the Swedish naturalist Anders Erikson Sparrman. All of them were part of the second expedition of Captain James Cook aboard the Resolution (1772–1775).{{cite journal|author=Peter Coyne|year=2009|title=Phormium tenax (New Zealand Flax)— Norfolk Island native?|journal=Cunninghamia|volume=11|issue=2|pages=167–170|url=http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/103116/Cun112167Coy.pdf}} The type specimens were taken from Queen Charlotte Sound, with additional specimens from both Norfolk Island and North Island, New Zealand.{{cite journal|author=Kevin Mills|year=2009|title=Was Phormium tenax introduced to Norfolk Island by the Polynesians?|journal=Cunninghamia|volume=11|issue=2|pages=171–175|url=http://rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/103117/Cun112171Mil.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311165859/http://rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/103117/Cun112171Mil.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-03-11}} The name Phormium comes from Ancient Greek for a "basket", while tenax is a Latin adjective meaning "holding fast, tenacious".Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J.R.V, & Charles, Joseph F., (Eds.), Revised Edition, 1928

Description and ecology

File:Phormiumtenaxflowertui.jpg seen in the photograph.]]

File:Phormium tenax MHNT.BOT.2015.2.23.jpg]]

Phormium is an herbaceous perennial monocot. The tough, sword-shaped leaves grow up to {{convert|3|m|0}} long and up to {{convert|125|mm|0}} wide. They are usually darkish green but sometimes have coloured edges and central ribs. Cultivated varieties range from light green through pink to deep russet bronze. There are numerous variegated cultivars with leaves marked by contrasting stripes in shades of green, red, bronze, pink and yellow.

The rigid flower stalks can be up to {{convert|5|m|0}} long, projecting high above the foliage. In November (in New Zealand) they produce clumps of curving tube-like flowers which turn bright red when mature. These produce unusually large quantities of nectar to attract all nectar-feeding birds such as the tūī and insects. The seedpods that develop after pollination, each contain hundreds of seeds which are later widely dispersed by the wind.

Distribution and habitat

Phormium tenax occurs naturally in New Zealand and Norfolk Island, while P. colensoi is endemic to New Zealand. Both species have been widely distributed to temperate regions of the world as economic fibre and ornamental plants.Extraction, content, strength, and extension of Phormium variety fibres prepared for traditional Maori weaving, New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2000, Vol. 38: pg. 469.

They are found mainly in swamps or low-lying areas but will grow in a variety of habitats.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/publications/Harakeke-Report06.pdf|title=Integrating NZ flax into land management systems|last=McGruddy|first=Elizabeth|date=July 2006|website=www.nzpcn.org.nz|access-date=18 May 2019}}

Cultivation

The two species readily interbreed and there is part considerable regional variation in Phormium colensoi.{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/0028825X.1979.10426888 | volume=17 | issue=2 | title=Variation inPhormium cookianum(Agavaceae) | journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany | pages=189–196| year=1979 | last1=Wardle | first1=P. | doi-access=free | bibcode=1979NZJB...17..189W }} Where the two species co-occur, there is local introgression.{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00288250809509767 | volume=46 | issue=3 | title=Genetic and morphological evidence for localised interspecific gene flow inPhormium(Hemerocallidaceae) | journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany | pages=287–297| year=2008 | last1=Smissen | first1=R. D. | last2=Heenan | first2=P. B. | last3=Houliston | first3=G. J. | s2cid=205448164 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2008NZJB...46..287S }}

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Phormium cultivars commercially available. The 2005–2006 edition of the Royal Horticultural Society Plant Finder listed 75 cultivars. As early as the 1920s it was recognised that ploidy plays a role in some cultivars due to the work of John Stuart Yeates.{{cite web |url= http://www.paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19291221.2.108&srpos=1& |title=Papers Past — Evening Post — 21 December 1929 — FLAX RESEARCH |work=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |year=2011 |access-date=24 October 2011}} The highly regarded sport Ngaropaperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19291221.2.108 was isolated from the Moutoa swamp, Foxton.{{cite web|title=Maori dictionary - ngaro|url=http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?wordID=13751|access-date=26 May 2013}}

The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit for growing in UK gardens:{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 78 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | access-date = 25 April 2018}}

Phormium colensoi subsp. hookeri 'Cream Delight'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Phormium colensoi subsp. hookeri 'Cream Delight'|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=5800|access-date=26 May 2013}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Phormium colensoi subsp. hookeri 'Tricolor'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Phormium colensoi subsp. hookeri 'Tricolor'|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=3812|access-date=26 May 2013}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Phormium 'Duet'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Phormium 'Duet'|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=3813|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121224051443/http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=3813|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 24, 2012|access-date=26 May 2013}}
Phormium 'Sundowner'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Phormium 'Sundowner'|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=1437|access-date=26 May 2013}}
Phormium tenax 'Variegatum'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Phormium tenax 'Variegatum'|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=3814|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121224054011/http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=3814|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 24, 2012|access-date=26 May 2013}}
Phormium 'Yellow Wave'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Phormium 'Yellow Wave'|url=http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=1440|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121224210514/http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=1440|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 24, 2012|access-date=26 May 2013}}

Uses

Phormium produces long leaf fibres that have played an important role in the culture, history and economy of New Zealand. Both species have been widely distributed to temperate regions of the world as economic fibre and ornamental plants.

References

Category:Asphodelaceae genera

Category:Hemerocallidoideae

Category:Flora of New Zealand