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100 Best NZ Native Plants for Gardens
| Phormium tenax
Flax was once an important crop cultivated for its fibre. Phormium reproduces asexually by the production of offshoots with the typical plant consisting of tens of offshoots both from the original seedling and from subsequent offshoots. Reproductionby offshoots is the most common form of horticultural nursery reproduction. Sexual reproduction is by large upright inflorescences up to 5 metres tall. Flowering varies from year to year. Strength of flowering seems to be correlated with high temperatures in March and June the autumn before flowering. Production of an inflorescence by an individual offsetprevented subsequent vegetative growth of that offset. Flowering of offsets eventually leads to their death. All flowers are hermaphrodites, being functionally male and female. The flower's male parts develop first changing to female a week or so later. This ensures a high level of pollination from another plant. The plant does not want to pollinate itself so beinghermaphrodite means the female stigmas are receptive to pollen once its own pollen has been shed. The capsules produced by the flowers have 2 types of seed. Those seeds which are the results of self pollination are generally small and infertile while those that result from cross pollination are large, with a fully developed embryo and an attached wing for winddispersal. Sow from February in a glasshouse and germination should be effected within 2 months. The seedlings show a large amount of variation in size and colour of the leaves. Flax flowers and foliage Phormium cookianumCoastal or mountain flax differs to Phormium tenax in the seed pods fall down- pendulous- and the plant has smaller and softer leaves
I recommend the following books on New Zealand native plants 100 Best NZ Native Plants for Gardens The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Native Trees Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand Gardener's Encyclopaedia of NZ Native Plants A Photographic Guide to Ferns of New Zealand New Zealand Trees and Shrubs: A Comprehensive Guide to Cultivation and Identification From Weta to Kauri: A Guide to the NZ Forest Which Native Forest Plant? (Which S.) |