For a moment it seemed as though the manufacture of hemp from the native Phormium tenax would become a great industry.
The name Phormium is from Gr.
Phormium has been treated as a cultivated plant in New Zealand, though only to a limited extent; for the supplies of the raw material dependence has been principally placed on the abundance of the wild stocks and on sets planted as hedges and boundaries by the Maoris.
Phormium is prepared with great care by native methods, only the mature fibres from the under-side of the leaves being taken.
But up till 1860 it was only native-prepared phormium that was known in the market, and it was on the material so carefully, but wastefully, selected that the reputation of the fibre was built up. The troubles with the Maoris at that period led the colonists to engage in the industry, and the sudden demand for all available fibres caused soon afterwards by the Civil War in America greatly stimulated their endeavours.