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PHORMIUM

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 472 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PHORMIUM , or NEw See also:

ZEALAND See also:FLAX (also called " New Zealand See also:hemp "), a fibre obtained from the leaves of Phormium tenax (nat. ord. See also:Liliaceae), a native of New Zealand, the See also:Chatham Islands and See also:Norfolk See also:Island. This useful plant is one of the many which were discovered by See also:Sir See also:Joseph See also:Banks and Dr Solander who accompanied See also:Captain See also:Cook on his first voyage of See also:discovery. The seeds brought See also:home by Banks in 1771 did not succeed, but the plant was introduced by him to the Royal Gardens at See also:Kew in 1789, and was thence liberally distributed SiO2 Al202 Fe203 FeO MgO CaO Na20 K2O See also:H2O I. See also:Phonolite, See also:Wolf See also:Rock, See also:Cornwall . . 56.46 22.29 2.70 0.97 tr 1.47 11.13 2.81 2.05 I I. Phonolite, Teplitzer Schlossberg, Bohemia 58.16 21.57 2.77 — 1.26 2.01 5.97 6.57 2.03 in the ground-See also:mass, and these rocks See also:form transitions to the See also:nephelinites (nephelinitoid phonolites) (see See also:PETROLOGY, See also:Plate III. fig. 1); in others it is scarce and the rocks resemble trachytes containing a little See also:nepheline (trachytoid phonolites). The felspathoid minerals, See also:sodalite, hauyne and nosean, which crystallize in isometric dodecahedra, are very frequent components of the phonolites; their crystals are often corroded or partly dissolved and their outlines may then be very irregular. Small rounded enclosures of See also:glass are often numerous in them. The pyroxenes may be See also:pale See also:green See also:diopside, dark green aegirine-See also:augite, or blackish green aegirine (soda See also:iron See also:pyroxene), and in many cases are complex, the See also:outer portions being aegirine while the centre is diopside. See also:Fine needles of aegirine are often found in the ground-mass.

The commonest See also:

hornblende is dark See also:brown barkevicite. See also:Biotite and See also:olivine are not really frequent in these rocks, and usually have been affected by resorption. The See also:ordinary See also:accessory minerals of igneous rocks, See also:apatite, in See also:Great See also:Britain and the See also:continent of See also:Europe. It grows luxuriantly in the See also:south of See also:Ireland, where it was introduced in 1798, and also flourishes on the See also:west See also:coast of See also:Scotland, and is generally cultivated as an ornamental See also:garden plant in Europe. It has been introduced for economic purposes into the See also:Azores and See also:California. The name Phormium is from Gr. 4opµ6s, a See also:basket, in allusion to one of the uses made of its leaves by the New Zealanders. In its native See also:country the plant is generally found near the coast. It has a fleshy rootstock, creeping beneath the See also:surface of the See also:soil and sending up luxuriant tufts of narrow, See also:sword-shaped leaves, from 4 to 8 ft. See also:long and from 2 to 4 in. in See also:diameter. The leaves are See also:vertical, and arranged in two rows as in the garden See also:flag; they are very thick, stiff and leathery, dark green above, paler below, with the margin and See also:nerve reddish-See also:orange. From the centre of the tuft ultimately arises a tall See also:flower-bearing See also:stem, 5 to 15 ft. high, bearing on its numerous branches a very large number of lurid red or yellow, somewhat tubular See also:flowers, recalling those of an See also:aloe, and from i to 2 in. long. After flowering the plant See also:dies down, but increases by new lateral growths from the rootstock.

The plant will grow in almost any soil, .but best on See also:

light See also:rich soil, by the See also:side of See also:rivers and See also:brooks, where sheltered from the See also:wind. Phormium has been treated as a cultivated plant in New Zealand, though only to a limited extent ; for the supplies of the raw material dependence has been principally placed on the abundance of the See also:wild See also:stocks and on sets planted as hedges and boundaries by the Maoris. Among these See also:people the fibre has always been an See also:article of considerable importance, yielding cloaks, mats, cordage, fishing-lines, &c., its valuable properties having attracted the See also:attention of traders even before colonists settled in the islands. The leaves, for fibre-yielding purposes, come to maturity in about six months, and the See also:habit of the Maoris is to cut them down twice a See also:year, rejecting the outer and leaving the central immature leaves. Phormium is prepared with great care by native methods, only the mature See also:fibres from the under-side of the leaves being taken. These are collected in See also:water, scraped over the edge of a See also:shell to See also:free them from adhering cellular See also:tissue and epidermis, and more than once washed in a See also:running stream, followed by renewed scraping till the desired purity of fibre is attained. This native See also:process is exceedingly wasteful, not more than one-See also:fourth of the See also:leaf-fibre being there-by utilized. But up till i86o it was only native-prepared phormium that was known in the See also:market, and it was on the material so care-fully, but wastefully, selected that the reputation of the fibre was built up. The troubles with the Maoris at that See also:period led the colonists to engage in the See also:industry, and the sudden demand for all available fibres caused soon afterwards by the See also:Civil See also:War in See also:America greatly stimulated their endeavours. Machinery was invented for disintegrating the leaves and freeing the fibre, and at the same See also:time experiments were made with the view of obtaining it by water-retting, and by means of alkaline solutions and other chemical agencies. But the fibre produced by these rapid and economical means was very inferior in quality to the product of See also:Maori handiwork, mainly because weak and undeveloped strands are, by See also:machine preparation, unavoidably intermixed, with the perfect fibres, which alone the Maoris select, and so the See also:uniform quality and strength of the material are destroyed. The New Zealand See also:government in 1893 offered a See also:premium of £1750 for a machine which would treat the fibre satisfactorily, and a further £250 for a process of treating the See also:tow; and with a view to creating further See also:interest in the See also:matter a member of a See also:commission of inquiry visited See also:England during 1897.

The premium was again issued in 1899. In 1903 it was stated that a See also:

German chemist had discovered a method of working and See also:spinning the New Zealand fibre. An See also:idea of the extent of the growth of the fibre may be gathered from the fact that the exports for 1905 amounted to 28,877 See also:bales at a value of nearly £700,000. Phormium is a cream-coloured fibre with a fine silky See also:gloss, capable of being spun and See also:woven into many of the heavier textures for which flax is used, either alone or in See also:combination with flax. It is, however, principally a cordage fibre, and in tensile strength it is second only to See also:manila hemp; but it does not See also:bear well the alternations of wet and dry to which See also:ship-See also:ropes are subject. The fibre has come into use as a suitable material for binder-twine as used in self-binding See also:reaping See also:machines.

End of Article: PHORMIUM

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