New Zealand flax / Harakeke / Phormium tenax is an evergreen perennial plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island that is an important fibre plant and a popular ornamental plant. It grows as a clump of long, straplike leaves up to two meters long, from which grows a much taller flowering shoot with dramatic yellow or red flowers. The fibre has been widely used since the arrival of Māori to New Zealand, originally in Māori traditional textiles and also in rope and sail making after the arrival of Europeans until at least WWII. It is an invasive species in some of the Pacific islands and in Australia. The blades of the plant contain cucurbitacins, which are poisonous to some animals, and some of them are among the bitterest tastes to humans. Photographed at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, on Dolomite Point in Paparoa National Park, between Westport and Greymouth in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island.
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