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Products > Phormium Black Adder ['FIT01'] PP20,451
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![Image of Phormium Black Adder ['FIT01'] PP20,451](https://www.smgrowers.com/imagedb/PhormiumBlack_Adder_Tesslar.jpg )
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| Category: Perennial |
| Family: Phormiaceae (~Xanthorrhoeaceae) |
| Origin: New Zealand (Australasia) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Red/Purple Foliage: Yes |
| Bloomtime: Infrequent |
| Height: 3-4 feet |
| Width: 2-3 feet |
| Exposure: Sun or Shade |
| Seaside: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 15-20° F |
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Phormium Black Adder ['FIT01'] PP20,451 (Black New Zealand Flax) - A New Zealand Flax cultivar with lustrous slightly-glossy dark blackish-purple upright leaves that grow slowly upwards to 3 or 4 feet tall and arch over near the tips. Plant in full sun to light shade. Can tolerate fairly dry conditions (coastal) but looks best with occasional to regular irrigation. Hardy to 15-20 F. Possibly root hardy below these temperatures but with severe foliage damage unless protected. 'Black Adder' is a spontaneous tissue culture mutation of Phormium cookianum 'Platt’s Black', a cultivar selected by Mr. Graham Platt of Platt's Nursery in Auckland from seed collected from Phormium 'Black Knight'. 'Black Adder' was discovered by Pat Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Nurseries in March 2003 at in a laboratory in Enniscorthy, Ireland and grown on for evaluation at Mr. Fitzgerald's nursery in Kilkenny, Ireland. This sport has glossier foliage of a deeper blackish purple as compared to the dark brown color of the parent cultivar 'Platt’s Black'. 'Platt's Black' is sometimes listed as a Phormium cookianum cultivar and we often see 'Black Adder' listed this way as well but Peter Heenan treated 'Platt's Black' as a hybrid in his 1991 Checklist of Phormium Cultivars, published by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, so this should hold true of this sport from that plant as well. This plant received U.S. Plant Patent 20,451 on November 3, 2009 and was introduced in the U.S. by Anthony Tesselaar Plants of Melbourne, Australia. This has been a good plant but problems getting the laboratory plants rooted out has caused shortages and we likely will not have this plant until later in 2014.
This information about Phormium Black Adder ['FIT01'] PP20,451 displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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