Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Asphodelaceae Juss.
Genus
Phormium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Phormium cookianum Le Jol., London J. Bot. 7: 536 (1848)
Synonymy:
Type: There is original material at P and presumably at CHE. The two candidate specimens in P are both labelled ‘P. Colensoi Hook.’ and ‘Donnée par M. Decaisne’ (i.e. ‘donated by Mr Decaisne’)
  • = Phormium colensoi Hook.f. in Le Jolis, Rev. Hort. (Paris) 2: 6 (1848)
  • = Phormium tenax var. β Hook.f. (1853)
  • = Phormium forsterianum Colenso, Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany 222 (1851) nom. illeg.
Vernacular Name(s):
Coastal flax; Flax; Kōrari-tuauru; Mountain flax; Wharariki
 Description

Lvs mostly < 2 m. long, not so stiff as in and inclined to droop; butt us. pale. Infl. to c. 2 m. tall; peduncle c. 2–3 cm. diam., often inclined, dark, terete, glab. Fls 2.5–4 cm. long, us. predominantly greenish, often with tones of orange or yellow; tips of inner tepals us. markedly recurved, one us. more than the other two. Ovary erect, but carpels sts twisted in half turn from base to tip. Capsule often > 10 cm. long, occ. to 20 cm., pendulous, almost circular in T.S., gradually narrowed to tip, twisted and becoming pale, fibrous, and more spirally curled in age. Seeds c. 8–10 mm. long, very like those of . 2n = 32.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Phormium cookianum Le Jol.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)2
Total2
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–Jan.; Fruiting: Feb.–Apr.

 Bibliography
Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany
Le Jolis, A. 1848a: Note sur la floraison du lin de la Nouvelle Zélande, à Cherbourg. Revue Horticole; résumé de tout ce qui parait d'intéressant en jardinage [etc.]. 2: 5–8.
Le Jolis, A. 1848b: On a new kind of Phormium, or New Zealand flax. London Journal of Botany 7: 533–537.