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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

New Zealand flax

After the most exact search not a single plant of the New Zealand flax could be found, though we had been taught to believe it abounded there.

From A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany-Bay by Watkin Tench

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 Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

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 Edward Ellis Morris

The rind of the Adansonia digitata also yields an extremely good material; in particular, paper made entirely from New Zealand flax deserves consideration, being, by virtue of its superior toughness, eminently suited for "bill paper."

From The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes by Austin Craig

New Zealand flax : - : Phormium tenax : This grows pretty abnndantly, I forget the native name.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits To the Islands in the Arafura Sea by John Lort Stokes

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