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Plant · P-969
New Zealand Flax
Phormium tenax
New Zealand Flax is a large, fast-growing evergreen perennial native to swampy and intermittently flooded lowland ground across New Zealand, grown for the very high quality, pliable fibre stripped from its long sword-shaped leaves and used for rope, twine, cloth and paper. Roasted seeds serve as a coffee substitute, the flowers yield nectar, and the gum found at the leaf bases is edible. It tolerates occasional saline flooding and maritime exposure, which suits it to wet, exposed or coastal ground other fibre plants cannot use.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 9–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6.1–7.8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1–6 ft
- Mature spread
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The deeper layer