Found 1 items, similar to Phormium tenax.
English → English (gcide)
Definition: Phormium tenax
Flax-plant
\Flax"-plant`\, n. (Bot.)
A plant in new Zealand (
Phormium tenax), allied to the
lilies and aloes. The leaves are two inches wide and several
feet long, and furnish a fiber which is used for making
ropes, mats, and coarse cloth.
[1913 Webster]
Phormium
\Phor"mi*um\, n. [NL. fr. Gr. ? a plaited mat, a kind
of plant.] (Bot.)
A genus of liliaceous plants, consisting of one species
(
Phormium tenax). See
Flax-plant.
[1913 Webster]
New Zealand
\New` Zea"land\
A group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
[1913 Webster]
New Zealand flax.
(a) (Bot.) A tall, liliaceous herb (
Phormium tenax), having
very long, sword-shaped, distichous leaves which furnish
a fine, strong fiber very valuable for cordage and the
like.
(b) The fiber itself.
New Zealand tea (Bot.), a myrtaceous shrub (
Leptospermum scoparium
) of New Zealand and Australia, the leaves of
which are used as a substitute for tea.
[1913 Webster]