Phormium tenax 'Aohanga'. Harakeke cultivar.
Māori names
Description
Harakeke cultivar.
1) Selwyn 1847; variegated flax. Coarser kind, only for rough garments and floormats. No use for European manufacture.
2) Taylor 1870; aoanga, variegated flax
3) Best 1907; In Urewera, variegated variety. Used for baskets, mats. Also known as Tāmure (Colenso, quoted in Best)
Best 1942; Striped or variegated varieties. Named Awanga, Aohanga, or Aorangi
4) New Zealand Department of Agriculture Report 1908; erect variety, strong, heavy leaf. Thick, pulpy white butt. Fibre strong, coarse, bright. Easily stripped. Colour of finished fibre markedly different to other varieties, except Huhiroa. Heavy crop per acre but fibre yield per ton low.
5) Shortland 1856; inferior flax of no value whatsoever. Distinguished by its variegated leaf.
6) Drysdale and McGregor 1910 Grown from seed at Weraroa by Department of Agriculture. Wide variation in seedlings.
7) Williams 1971; variegated flax
8) Heaphy, East Coast, 1870; The Motu-o-rui and Awanga, a variegated kind, the fibre unserviceable for manufacture.
9) Andersen 1907; variegated variety valued as ornamental rather than fibre.
