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Story: Horticultural use of native plants

Flax shelter belt

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Flax shelter belt

Fast-growing flax (Phormium tenax) is widely used as a shelter for houses and farm paddocks, such as these at Woolleys Bay, Northland.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Melanie Lovell-Smith

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How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Horticultural use of native plants – History, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/10424/flax-shelter-belt (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 1 March 2009.