New Zealand flax

American  

noun

1. a large New Zealand plant, Phormium tenax, of the agave family, having showy, red-margined, leathery leaves and dull-red flowers, grown as an ornamental and for the fiber-yielding leaves.

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Etymology

Origin of New Zealand flax

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

Their mother sits on the ground with a little weaving frame about two feet high before her, and makes them of what is called New Zealand flax.

From Holiday Stories for Young People by Sangster, Margaret Elizabeth

In order to render the appearance of his followers as imposing as possible, Mr. Goodenough furnished each of the Houssas with a pair of trousers made of New Zealand flax, reaching to their knees.

From By Sheer Pluck, a Tale of the Ashanti War by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

The New Zealand flax gives the most perfectly soluble nitrates of any of the flaxes.

From Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise by Sanford, P. Gerald (Percy Gerald)

Bob Atkins and Bill approached the combatants, carrying some strong cord, of New Zealand flax.

From The Book of the Bush Containing Many Truthful Sketches Of The Early Colonial Life Of Squatters, Whalers, Convicts, Diggers, And Others Who Left Their Native Land And Never Returned by Macfarlane, J.

Maori name for a species of New Zealand flax.

From Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Morris, Edward Ellis