Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Asphodelaceae Juss.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Phormium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., Char. Gen. Pl. 24 (1775)
Type Taxon:
Phormium tenax J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
Vernacular Name(s):
Flax (NZ); New Zealand flax
 Description

Fls bisexual. Infl. terminal; peduncle long, sheathed with a series of alt., deciduous bracts of progressively smaller size, the lower ones empty, the upper ones each subtending and entirely enclosing a comparatively short, alternately branched, flowering lateral; smaller bracts quite scarious. Pedicels articulate just below fl. Fls ± zygomorphic. Tepals subequal, erect, forming a tube but connate only near base, c. 12-nerved, marcescent. Stamens > tepals; filaments glab., only slightly flattened, inserted in pit along back of anther; inner filaments a little longer than outer; anthers linear-oblong. Ovary superior, sessile, elongate; ovules ∞; style terete; stigma small, narrow. Fr. a long capsule, loculicidal. Seeds ∞, flattened, almost winged, black, shining. Tall, perennial, tufted plants, increasing by budding from stout rhizome. Lvs crowded in distichous fans, linear-ensiform, equitant, strongly keeled, marked by ∞, fine, close longitudinal striations and strengthened by tough bast fibres.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Number of species in New Zealand within Phormium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)2
Total2
 Bibliography
Forster, J.R.; Forster, G. 1775: Characteres Generum Plantarum:quas in itinere ad insulas maris Australis, collegerunt, descripserunt, delinearunt, annis 1772-1775. Edition 1. London.
Mabberley, D.J. 2008: Mabberley's plant book, a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Edition 3. Cambridge University Press.
Mabberley, D.J. 2017: Mabberley's plant book, a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Edition 4. Cambridge University Press.