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CHAPTER VII. 

 NEW ZEALAND HEMP. 



THE New Zealand hemp plant (Phovmium tenax] is abundant 

 in New Zealand, and is also found on Norfolk Island. Captain 

 Cook discovered the plant in the course of one of his voyages, 

 and it is recorded in his diary that " the country (New Zea- 

 land) produced a plant like flags, of the nature of hemp or 

 flax, but superior in quality to either of these ; the natives 

 make clothing, lines, nets, &c., from it." 



In appearance the plant resembles the ordinary flag or sedge, 

 but varies greatly in the length of leaf, in the degree to which 

 the leaf is curved and split at the top, in the general colour of 

 the leaf, in the tint of a coloured line that borders the margin 

 and midrib of the leaf, and in the colour of the flowers and 

 the size of the capsule. As a rule the flower is reddish and 

 the capsule three-cornered and straight. 



The stem is not well defined ; the leaves are long and 

 sword-like, varying in length from 5 to 7 ft. They are hard 

 in texture, contain but little moisture, and are perennial. 



There are nearly 100 varieties of the plant growing in New 

 Zealand. These may be roughly divided into three sorts, 

 viz., the hill, the swamp, and the tehore varieties. The last- 

 named grows on ordinary plains, and bears shorter leaves than 

 does the swamp variety, but produces a better quality of fibre. 

 The swamp, and commonest, kind, of course, grows in 

 marshy places. It grows in both fresh and brackish waters, 

 as well as by the sides of running streams. This species 

 yields a large quantity of fibre of coarse quality. The first, 



