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Astelia nervosa
Also called Mountain Astelia
Bush flax (Astelia nervosa) is a clump-forming New Zealand perennial with long, arching, silvery-green leaves, grown for foliage. It needs consistently moist soil and suits cool, humid, foggy conditions.
Astelia nervosa, also known as mountain astelia or, along with a number of other species, as bush flax, is a herbaceous plant native to New Zealand. A. nervosa has long, flexible, leathery leaves that are light green and grey in colour. The flowers are light brown to red in colour. The mature fruits are generally orange.
It is found in lowland to low alpine areas from the southern North Island south to Stewart Island.
Usually found in the uplands but is an occasional hydrophyte. Astelia likes soil that does not dry out during growing season as they have a high need for moisture in the soil, and they prefer full sun to partial shade. The plant prefers locations with an average monthly rainfall of at least 100 cm. Astelias are typically found in forest locality with a surplus of fog because this is where they flourish. Humus soil where Astelia plants occur is almost always moist, and consists almost entirely of organic matter.
Pineapple Grass · Silverhair pineapplegrass · Coastal Astelia · Chatham Island Kakaha · Bush Flax · Astelia graminea · Tank Lily · Pua'akuhinia · Astelia neocaledonica · Astelia nivicola · Astelia pumila · Kauri Grass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Astelia nervosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
