The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Phormium cookianum subsp. hookeri

Etymology

Phormium: basket or basketwork
cookianum: after Captain Cook
hookeri: Named after Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (born 1817) - a world famous botanist who travelled on the Antarctic expedition of 1839 under the command of Sir James Ross and wrote "Handbook of New Zealand Flora" published in 1864-67 describing many specimens sent to Kew by collectors. He died in 1911 and has a memorial stone at Westminster Abbey London.

Common Name(s)

Mountain flax, wharariki

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Phormium cookianum subsp. hookeri (Hook.f.) Wardle

Family

Xanthorrhoeaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

PHOHOO

Structural Class

Monocotyledonous Herbs

Synonyms

Phormium hookeri Hook.f.

Distribution

Endemic. Common throughout New Zealand. Local in Northland. And often found inland on cliff faces and exposed rock ledges in the northern part of its range, becoming the dominant coastal flax south of Paekakariki.

Habitat

Common from lowland and coastal areas through montane forest to subalpine habitats, usually but not exclusively on cliff faces and open rocky or boulder-strewn ground.

Features

Stout liliaceous herb, 1-1.5(-2) m tall. Leaves numerous, arising from fan-like bases. Individual leaves stiff near base and semi-erect, becoming decurved or pendulous from basal third to half of length, 1(-1.5) x 20-80 mm, olive-green to yellow-green. Lamina margin, entire, somewhat thickened and finely pigmented red, orange-red or black. Inflorescence 1(-2) m tall, somewhat woody and fleshy when fresh, long persistent, drying pale grey, with the fibrous interior becoming progressively more exposed. Peduncle 20-30 mm diam., inclined, red-green to grey-green, glabrous. Flowers 25-40 mm long, tubular, greenish or yellow, sometimes flushed orange; tips of inner tepals markedly recurved. Ovary erect. Capsules 100-200 mm long, dark green, trigonous in cross-section, pendulous, tapering toward tip, twisted, initially fleshy becoming papery with age, long persistent. Seeds 8-10 x 4-5 mm, black, elliptic, flat and plate-like, margins frilled or twisted.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from Phormium tenax by the pendulous, twisted capsules. Differing from subsp. cookianum by the longer, "floppy" uniformly olive green leaves which lack the dark-pigmented band present on the leaf lamina of subsp. cookianum. In the wild this is primarily a plant of cliff faces, boulder fields and talus slopes. It also often grows within grey-scrub. Very rarely it is sympatric with subsp. cookianum.

Flowering

(September-) October-November (-January)

Flower Colours

Green,Yellow

Fruiting

(November-) December (-March)

Propagation Technique

Very easy from fresh seed. Most commonly grown by the division of rooted "fans" from established plants.

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 32

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

This page last updated on 4 Jan 2014