Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Blandfordia cunninghamii

Flowers. Photographer Ian Sutton, Blue Mountains

Flowering plants. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Common name

Christmas Bells

Family

Blandfordiaceae

Where found

Damp shallow sandy and peaty soils, often on sandstone cliff margins. Mainly Blue Mountains. Occasionally coast and ranges north from near Robertson.

Notes

Tufted perennial herb. Scape to 0.8 m long. Leaves crowded at the base of the stem, to about 100 cm long, mosly 4–12 mm wide, flat with veins and the midrib slightly raised, margins more or less translucent, slightly rolled down, and smooth. Flowers usually 30–60 mm long, bell-shaped, 18-30 mm in diameter, red with 6 yellow lobes. Anthers 4–5 mm long. Flowers in tight clusters of 7–30 flowers. Flowering: summer.

Protected NSW.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Blandfordia~cunninghamii  (accessed 5 January, 2021)