PHORMIUM OR NEW ZEALAND FLAX 85 
get at it well. In general the empty sheets should be changed 
for dry ones two or three times, and the whole should be 
kept under pressure until the plants are dry and stiff. A number 
of detached flowering heads should be dried with each tuft, that 
there may be plenty of material for studying the spikelets and 
flowers. 
In most localities specimens of the following grasses can be 
readily collected and dried—Red Top or the allied Fiorin Grass, 
Perennial Rye-grass ; Sweet Vernal Grass, Yorksire Fog, Cocks- 
foot, Smooth Meadow-grass, the Oat, and Wheat. 
In drying ordinary flowering plants the paper must be changed more 
frequently—indeed once or twice daily for several days. 
XIX.—PHORMIUM OR NEW ZEALAND FLAX. 
Phormium or native flax belongs to the great family of 
Lilies, and is found in abundance in both Islands. It grows 
best in moist situations, reaching its greatest size in the 
rich alluvial soil along the banks of rivers, where the roots 
are abundantly supplied by water that never stagnates 
about them. 
Notice that the leaves do not grow singly, but spring from 
the underground stem in the shape of a fan, which some- 
times consists of a dozen or more leaves. Hach fan pro- 
duces from five to six leaves every season. 
The Stem. Dig up a portion of a flax clump, and 
notice the thick underground creeping stem (rhizome) with 
its numerous fibrous roots. | Compare with the stem of the 
Iris or Flag-lily. Notice the buds every here and there 
on this underground stem. From these new fans are 
developed which gradually acquire their own roots, and 
finally become independent plants, clustering together and 
forming the familiar “flax bush.” In the course of a few 
years a seedling plant will in this way grow into a large 
clump. 
