Garden Forwardperennial
New Zealand flax
Phormium tenax
Growing guidance
Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.
Current-climate suitability
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Future-climate resilience
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Sun
Full sun
Soil moisture
free-draining, average, moisture-retentive
Heat tolerance
Up to about 44°C
Cold tolerance
Down to about -6°C
Waterlogging tolerance
4/5
Drought tolerance
4/5
Mature size
1.5–3 m tall, 2 m spread
Seasonal interest
Summer · Bronze red
Maintenance
low
Wildlife supported
General wildlife value 4/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)
Known risks or warnings
Very large in warm climates; sharp leaf edges.
Toxicity: none
Verified botanical record
- Accepted scientific name
- Phormium tenax J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
- Family
- Asphodelaceae (Asparagales)
- Rank and status
- species · accepted
- GBIF record
- Taxon 2778511
Recorded as introduced in: Ascension, Azores, Açores, Belgium, Bogotá, Canary Is., Channel Is., Cyprus, East Africa, England, Falkland Is., France and 22 further regions
Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.
Phormium tenax (called flax in New Zealand English; harakeke in Māori; New Zealand flax outside New Zealand; and New Zealand hemp in historical nautical contexts) is an evergreen perennial plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island that is an important fibre plant and a popular ornamental plant. The plant grows as a clump of long, straplike leaves, up to two metres long, from which arises a much taller flowering shoot, with dramatic yellow or red flowers. Despite being commonly known as 'flax', harakeke is of the genus Phormium, a monocot, and is a leaf fibre, whereas flax (linen) is of the genus Linum, a rosid, and is a bast fibre (which comes from the stem of the plant). The two plants have an extremely distant evolutionary relationship with each other.
Description from Wikipedia — Phormium tenax (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.
Native status and geographic context
- United Kingdom: climate-suitable
- United States: climate-suitable
- Australia: climate-suitable
Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.
Demonstration data. Climate, plant and retailer records shown here are realistic samples awaiting horticultural validation and live data connections.