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New Zealand flax describes the common New Zealand perennial plants ''Phormium tenax'' and ''Phormium colensoi'', known by the Māori names ''harakeke'' and ''wharariki'' respectively. Although given the common name 'flax' they are quite distinct from the Northern Hemisphere plant known as flax (''Linum usitatissimum'') ''P. tenax'' occurs naturally in New Zealand and Norfolk Island, while ''P. colensoi'' is endemic to New Zealand. They have played an important part in the cultural and economic history of New Zealand for both the Māori people and the later European settlers. Both species and their cultivars have now been widely distributed to temperate regions of the world as ornamental garden plants - and to lesser extent for fibre production.〔''Extraction, content, strength, and extension of Phormium variety fibres prepared for traditional Maori weaving'', New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2000, Vol. 38: pg. 469.〕〔http://sainthelenaisland.info/flax.htm〕 ==Traditional Māori uses== Although the Māori made textiles from a number of other plants, including tī kōuka, tōī, pingao, kiekie, toetoe and the paper mulberry, the use of harakeke and wharariki was predominant. As Captain Cook wrote: “Of the leaves of these plants, with very little preparation, they (the Māori) make all their common apparel; and of these they make also their strings, lines and cordage …”. They also made baskets, mats, and fishing nets from the undressed flax. The Māori practised advanced weft twining in phormium fibre cloaks.〔John Gillow and Bryan Sentance, ''World Textiles: A Visual Guide to Traditional Techniques'', London: Thames & Hudson, 2004, p. 64, 220.〕 Plaiting and weaving (raranga) the flax fibres into baskets were but only two of the great variety of uses made of flax by Māori who recognised nearly 60 varieties, and who carefully propagated their own flax nurseries and plantations throughout the land. Leaves were cut near the base of the plant using a sharp mussel shell or specially shaped rocks, more often than not greenstone (jade, or pounamu). The green fleshy substance of the leaf was stripped off, again using a mussel shell, right through to the fibre which went through several processes of washing, bleaching, fixing, softening, dyeing and drying. The flax fibre, called muka, is laboriously washed, pounded and hand wrung to make soft for the skin. The cords (muka whenu) form the base cloth for intricate cloaks or garments (kākahu) such as the highly prized traditional feather cloak (kahu huruhuru). Different type of cloaks, such as kahu kiwi and kahu kākā, were produced by adorning them with colourful feathers from different native birds, such as kiwi, kākā (parrot), tui, huia and kererū (woodpigeon). Fibres of various strengths were used to fashion eel traps (hinaki), surprisingly large fishing nets (kupenga) and lines, bird snares, cordage for ropes, baskets (kete), bags, mats, clothing, sandals (paraerae), buckets, food baskets (rourou), and cooking utensils etc. The handmade flax cording and ropes had such great tensile strength that they were used to successfully bind together sections of hollowed out logs to create huge ocean-going canoes (waka). With the help of wakas, pre-European Māori deployed seine nets which could be over one thousand metres long. The nets were woven from green flax, with stone weights and light wood or gourd floats, and could require hundreds of men to haul.〔Meredith, Paul ("Te hī ika – Māori fishing" ) ''Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand''. Updated 2 March 2009.〕 It was also used to make rigging, sails and lengthy anchor warps, and roofs for housing. Frayed ends of flax leaves were fashioned into torches and lights for use at night. The dried flower stalks, which are extremely light, were bound together with flax twine to make river rafts called mokihi. File:MAP Expo Maori Pilon 30 12 2011 1.jpg|Māori stone pestle for flax fibers File:MAP Expo Maori Lin 30 12 2011 1.jpg|Flax fibers (muka) File:Femme Maori - Maori woman at Papakura 1998-3170-139.jpg|Maori woman wearing the traditional costume made of flax fibre, c. 1880 File:RewiManiapoto1879.jpg|Photo of Rewi Manga Maniapoto in a flax cloak, 1879 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Flax in New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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