phormium

/ (ˈfɔːmɪəm) /

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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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Word Origin for phormium

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

Words nearby phormium

phorbol, Phorcys, -phore, -phoresis, phoresy, phormium, phoronid, -phorous, phosgene, phosgenite, phosph-

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

How to use phormium in a sentence

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
New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), a kind of marsh hemp, yields a fibre used in making cordage.
Commercial Geography|Jacques W. Redway
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
It contains a Phormium tenax that I wouldn't lose on any account.
Major Vigoureux|A. T. Quiller-Couch

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