Dr Y uie on the Phormium ienax. 344 
demonstration of the existence of what he has called the diffe- 
rent dispersive powers of his elementary axes. 
Slough, Feb. 19. 1820. J. F. W. Herschel. 
Art. XIV.— On the Phormium tenaoc or New Zealand Flax. * * 
By J. \ r ULE, M. D., F. R. S. Edim, and Fellow of the Royal 
College of Physicians, Edin. Communicated by the Author. 
E owe to the late Sir Joseph Banks and his associates, who 
accompanied Captain Cook in his voyages round the world, our 
first acquaintance with the valuable purposes to which this plant 
is turned by the islanders of the South Sea. The fibres of the 
leaves are, in fact, of greater strength than those of Flax or 
Hemp, and, consequently, could the plant be cultivated in the 
South of England ■(*, or even imported from our settlements in 
Austral Asia (to the climate of which it is naturally adapted), at 
an expence sufficiently moderate, it might certainly deserve the 
attention of the government at present, when the emigration to 
this quarter of the world is going on ; for, next to the raising of 
grain, whatever is of importance to our navy, is worthy of the 
greatest consideration. It was, however, chiefly in a physiolo- 
gical point of view, that my attention was attracted to this sin- 
gular plant ; for, having obtained some of the seeds from the 
East Indies, through the kindness of Dr Wallich, I was anxious 
to examine their structure ; but, like those of many of the same 
series of plants, they do not easily germinate, when once in 
an over dried state, and consequently afforded but an imperfect 
view of the parts of the embryo, so that I have had no opportu- 
nity of comparing them with the description of Gsertner. This, 
however, was in some degree compensated by the dissection of the 
buds ; the structure of which will, in many instances, enable us 
* Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
*j* What renders this probable is, that it has withstood these three past winters 
at Edinburgh, in different situations, elevated nearly 225 feet above the level of 
the sea (the mean temperature 46° 23'), partly retaining its long rigid leaves, except 
in one case, where it was prematurely excited, by being placed in the vicinity of a 
stove, the soil being poor sand. In order to give it a chance of flowering, it is now 
under trial, in a rich deep loam, in a less elevated garden, with the shelter of sur- 
rounding shrubs only. 
