Harakeke - brief details

Harakeke

What is harakeke?

1. Harakeke or New Zealand flax is a big plant that grows throughout the country
2. It has long, sword-shaped leaves that grow in a fan shape
3. Tall branches of flowers
4. Tūī and other birds love to feed on the flower’s nectar
5. There are two species:
   • Harakeke or swamp flax – its scientific name is Phormium tenax
   • Wharariki or mountain flax – its scientific name is Phormium cookianum
     • New Zealand flax is not related to linen flax.

How Māori used harakeke

1. Shells scraped along a harakeke leaf removed the green flesh, leaving the strong, white fibres called muka
2. Muka was spun into thread and used to weave warm clothes and make ropes, fishing nets and many other things
3. Whole leaves to weave baskets and mats
4. Gum from the base of the leaves to heal wounds
5. Roots make a disinfectant

Flax was so important to Māori that when they were told that it didn’t grow in England,   
they said, ‘How is it possible to live there without it?’

The flax trade

1. When Europeans first visited New Zealand in the 1700s, they saw that flax fibre would make good rope for their sailing ships
2. Māori began to barter muka for muskets and other European goods

Flax mills and machines

1. In the 1860s, machines were invented to strip flax fibre from the leaves
   • Much faster than doing it by hand
2. Flax mills were built, employing Māori and Europeans
3. Working in a flax mill wasn’t much fun
   • It was loud and the workers got cold and wet washing the slimy fibre to clean it
4. Gradually there was less demand for flax overseas
5. New Zealand factories began to make woolpacks, floor coverings and other items from flax
6. The last flax factory of this kind closed in 1985

New uses for flax

1. High-quality paper
2. The gel from the base of the leaves is used to make face-creams
   • One day flax fibre might be mixed with wood or glass fibre to make building materials and furniture