Martha King (After) Day & Haghe (Lithographer)
The Phormium Tenax, or New Zealand Flax

Artwork Detail
'The leaves grow out of the ground to heights varying from three to twelve feet. The flax-like fibre is obtained from the leaf by scraping it with a mussel-shell. The flowers are full of syrup. Each plant has generally two or three flower-stems, and from thirty to forty leaves.'
(Edward Jerningham Wakefield, Illustrations to Adventure in New Zealand from 1839 to 1844; with some account of the beginning of British colonization of the islands. Plate XV).
- Title
- The Phormium Tenax, or New Zealand Flax
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 1845
- Medium
- hand-coloured lithograph
- Dimensions
- 556 x 367 mm
- Credit line
- Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased with funds from the M A Serra Trust, 1987
- Accession no
- 1987/16/16
- Other ID
- 1987/16/16/C
- Copyright
- No known copyright restrictions
- Department
- New Zealand Art
- Display status
- Not on display
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