Linnaeus

Our New Zealand Flax

    I've been trying to unearth our New Zealand Flax from the undergrowth that's been threatening to engulf it recently (well, not so recently, to be honest.) It's been in the bottom garden about ten years, so is about half-way mature. It currently stands at about two-and-a-half metres tall and will get to about four metres by the time it reaches twenty years old. It's already a pretty impressive beast, especially when the pannicles (those long branched things that are obviously not its leaves) come into flower. It's botanical name is Phormium Tenax. To give it it's full classification:

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asphodelaceae
Subfamily: Hemerocallidoedeae
Genus: Phormium; J.R. Forst & G. Forst
Type Species: Phormium Tenax

    This is its full Linnaean classification, as formulated by Carolus Linnaeus in the 18th Century - a way of pinning down every last thing into a taxonomy that was consistent across the entire plant & animal kingdoms.
    Here's the thing, though. My old man knew the Linnaean System, at least with regard to the Plant Kingdom - he could rattle off the latin names of just about any plant you could throw at him. It came about when Dad fell ill with double-pneumonia and pleurisy as a young man.
    The owner of the firm he was working for at the time decided to put Dad on light duties, helping out his wife at their family home. The wife, as it turned out though, was a botanist and decided to educate my father in all things plant-based. He spent the entire time learning botany, rather than being the handyman around the house. The time he spent there and the knowledge gained never left him - he always recalled the period with great fondness - an unexpected kindness at a time when such things were a rarity across the class divide.