Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Dianella congesta

Flowering stem and leaves. Photographer Don Wood, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory

Fruit and leaves. Photographer Jackie Miles

Plants. Photographer Jackie Miles

Common name

A Flax-lily

Family

Hemerocallidaceae

Where found

Coastal forest, woodland, shrubland, and dunes. Often grows near the more robust, non-mat-forming Dianella crinoides.

Notes

Perennial herb to 1 m high, forming mats to 20 m diameter, rhizomatous, roots fibrous.  Fruit fleshy, blue. Leaves arranged in two rows on opposite sides of the stem, to 45 cm long, 10–15 mm wide, basal sheaths folded together lengthwise, completely closed at the top. Flowers mid- to dark blue, with 6 'petals'. Outer 'petals' 7.5–8.5 mm long, inner 'petals' 6.5–7.5 mm long. Anthers yellow-brown. Inflorescence more or less within the foliage, the sub-clusters condensed, 2–8-flowered. Flowering: spring–summer. Fruit blue to purple, 6–12 mm long.

Family Phormiaceae in PlantNET.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Dianella~congesta (accessed 26 April 2021)