Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Dianella revoluta var. revoluta

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

Flowering plant. Photographer Don Wood, above Murrumbidgee River, Canberra, ACT

Common name

Black-anther flax lily, Flax lily, Blueberry lily, Blue flax lily, Spreading flax-lily

Family

Hemerocallidaceae

Where found

Forest and woodland. Widespread.

Notes

Perennial herb to 1 m tall, rhizomatous. Fruit fleshy, blue. Leaves arranged in two rows on opposite sides of the stem, 25-85 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, flattish at the top of the stems, Y-shaped in cross section at the base, usually dark green above, glaucous below, hairless, margins curved or rolled down, basal sheaths almost competely closed. Flowers 10-20 mm in diameter, blue to violet, with 6 'petals', outer 'petals' 5.5-10 mm long, inner 'petals' 5-9.5 mm long. Anthers brown to almost black. Inflorescence much exceeding the leaves, the sub-clusters expanded, 2–9-flowered. Flowers mostly Spring to Summer. Fruit blue to purple.

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

Family Phormiaceae in PlantNET. Family Asphodelaceae in VICFLORA.

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~revoluta (accessed 26 April 2021)