phormium

/ (ˈfɔːmɪəm) /

noun

any plant of the New Zealand bulbous genus Phormium, with leathery evergreen leaves and red or yellow flowers in panicles

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having or claiming to have the power of seeing objects or actions beyond the range of natural vision.

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Word Origin for phormium

New Latin, from Greek phormos a basket (from a use for the fibres)

Words nearby phormium

Phorcys, -phore, -phoresis, phoresy, phoria, phormium, phoro-, phoronid, phoro-optometer, phoropter, -phorous

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example sentences from the Web for phormium

The robes of New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), and especially the feather robes, evince their aptitude and taste.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. October, 1878.|Various
It contains a Phormium tenax that I wouldn't lose on any account.
Major Vigoureux|A. T. Quiller-Couch
The slave girls stick unthreshed slips of the Phormium tenax in their skirts, thus giving immoderate fulness to their bodies.
The Human Race|Louis Figuier
New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), a kind of marsh hemp, yields a fibre used in making cordage.
Commercial Geography|Jacques W. Redway

The more important fibres of this class are manila, sisal, phormium.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 3|Various

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