Re: Phormia? Phormiae? - Maybe just Phormiums?
- To: Tony & Moira Ryan
- Subject: Re: Phormia? Phormiae? - Maybe just Phormiums?
- From: W* B*
- Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 10:17:04 -0800 (PST)
Docents leading tours at UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley, California were
taught the method Native Californians used the Pacific Coast iris leaves
for textiles, mainly netting. When I was elected to take a New Zealand
family with two young children around the Garden, we naturally stopped at
all the plants the Native Californians used, including the Pacific Coast
iris. I started to demonstrate the California method, and handed some
leaves to the children. They were more skilled than I was! (I had
practiced a lot). Then they laughed and told me that they had been taught
the Maori method (just the same as the California method) in school at
home.
Elly Bade
On Sat, 4 Mar 2000, Tony & Moira Ryan wrote:
> "William A. Grant" wrote:
> >
> > Where there is summer fog, as there is here on the central coast of
> > California, the dew that sits on the phormium when the sun hits it - browns
> > terribly. Some of mine are huge and the visitor cannot see the burns at the
> > top. But they do look unsightly. The newer ones in half day shade in
> > Aug/Sept. get through the hot times well. We have no humidity here - wonder
> > if that plays a role where they have a tough time?
> > Oh, the new hybrids I saw in NZ two years ago...why aren't they here yet?
> > Bill Grant, California
>
> Well Bill
> Perhaps you'd better start nagging the appropriate nurseryman!!
>
> While I am on the subject. There are actually two species of Phormium in
> NZ,
> P tenax and P.cookianum. The former is essentially a lowland plant and
> though it may grow successfully in very dry conditions, in nature it
> particularly likes swamps or seasonally damp areas. Cookianum is in
> nature a cliff dweller, either on sea cliffs (as around Wellington) or
> inland in the South Island high country and so presumably can tolerate
> dryer conditions..
>
> P tenax is the fibre used in making Maori textiles and there are ancient
> strains of the natural green form still around which have been
> specifically selected for various different types of weaving. Some of
> the most important of these varieties have been preserved in a special
> planting at the Wellington Botanic Gardens and with the revival of Maori
> arts and crafts in recent years these plants have provided useful
> sources of authentic materials.
>
> By now the two species have been so frequently crossed (and also may
> sometimes cross naturally when grown in gardens) that the majority of
> cultivars, (especially those with purple or pink tonings or stripes) are
> now hybrids whose parentage may be impossible to disentangle.
>
> As to the heat tolerance of NZ flax, though a very few places here may
> (very rarely) attain 40C for the odd day, sustained temperatures much
> above 30-35C are simply unknown, so for an answer to this one we would
> have to depend on informstion from hotter climes than ours.
>
> Moira
>
> --
> Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
> Wainuiomata, New Zealand. (on the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
> Lat. 41:16S Long. 174:58E. Climate: Mediterranean/Temperate
>
>
