Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Dianella longifolia var. longifolia

Flowers. Photographer User#122, west of Melbourne

Flowering plant. Photographer Don Wood, Tuross Head

Fruiting plants. Photographer Paul Caine of Glen Eira Environment Group near Melbourne, Vic

Common name

Blueberry Lily, Blue Flax Lily, Pale flax-lily, Smooth flax-lily

Family

Hemerocallidaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, and grassy areas. Widespread.

Notes

Perennial herb to 1.5 m tall, rhizomatous. Fruit fleshy, blue. Leaves arranged in two rows on opposite sides of the stem, 20-80 cm long, 4-25 mm wide, rounded on the back or keeled, flat to broadly V-shaped or Y-shaped in cross section, green or grey-green to glaucous, upper surface the same colour as lower surface or almost so, surfaces smooth throughout or rough along the margins and the midrib on the lower suface, particularly toward the leaf tips. Not or hardly sheathing at the base, basal sheaths, if present, green or purplish, less than half closed at the top. Leaves hairless, green to glaucous. Flowers with 6 white to blue or mauve 'petals', outer 'petals' each 5-10 mm long, inner 'petals' 5-9 mm long. Anthers yellow. Inflorescence much longer than the leaves, the sub-clusters 3–22-flowered. Flowers Spring to Summer. Fruit pale blue to purple.

Family Phormiaceae in PlantNET. Family Asphodelaceae in VICFLORA.

Hybrids are known between Dianella revoluta var. revoluta and Dianella longifolia var. longifolia.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

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