1. (noun) New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax - an important native plant with long, stiff, upright leaves and dull red flowers. Found on lowland swamps throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand. It has straight, upright seed pods. This is a general name for the harakeke leaf and the plant itself, but each different variety has its own name.

1. (noun) clump of flax - also used figuratively for 'grassroots'.

1. A flax plantation: said of ones children and mokopuna.

1. (noun) flax snails, Placostylus spp. - large snails with a long, tapered coil, most being dark reddish-brown to chocolate.

(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 164;)

1. (noun) flax bush, generations - sometimes used as a metaphor to represent the whānau and the gene pools inherited by children from their two parents and the passing of attributes down the generations.

1. Marry are woman who is a weaver (industrious).

1. Clear away the negative to make way for the positive.

1. (noun) harakeke scrapings, dry epidermis of harakeke - removed in preparing muka.

1. (noun) harakeke leaf scrapings, leaf waste from scraping harakeke for muka.

1. (noun) centre shoot, young centre leaf of the harakeke, new harakeke shoot.

1. (noun) striped variety of harakeke.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from Ngāti Porou. A tall, soft, bendy harakeke. Margin and keel reddish brown with light shading on tips of young leaves. Good for kete harakeke and easy to work.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from Hawke's Bay. Tall, rather bendy, medium green leaves. Good all purpose harakeke.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from Waiomatatini, East Coast. A handsome bronze coloured harakeke. Deep brown tones with crimson, almost translucent margins and markings along centre of blades. Purply-blue bloom on the underside of the leaves and on the kōrari. Good ornamental.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from near Foxton. Has very tall, wide, medium green blades and few kōrari. Handy all purpose harakeke.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from Te Tai Rāwhiti. Short, strong, straight, pale green blades with blunt points particularly on the young blades. Margin and keel are brownish orange. Few short kōrari with heavy, blunt seed pods. Very good all purpose harakeke. Some mature blades may be used for piupiu but not really a piupiu variety . Makes very strong kete.

1. (adjective) be black, dark in colour.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from Te Tai Rāwhiti. A very handsome harakeke, growing at times up to 3 m high. Straight, very strong, pale yellowy-green leaves. Bright yellow-orange margin and keel. Small number of very high, heavy kōrari. One of the finer cultivars of flax which can be stripped of fibre with the fingers and without the use of a shell. Produces long strands of strong, shiny fibre. Very good piupiu variety. Easy to prepare and has plenty of length so is particularly good for ladies piupiu.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from Whanganui river district with tall, straight, wide, dark blue-green blades with a definite blue bloom on the underside of the leaves. Margin and keel very dark reddish brown. No kōrari. May be used for piupiu and muka.

1. (noun) variety of harakeke from Taranaki. Very tall, up to 3m. Tapering blades, pale bluish-green in colour. Dark brown edge with dark reddish-brown keel. Used for fine mats, garments, fishing lines and ropes.