Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Patersonia glabrata

Flowers. Photographer Jackie Miles

Flowering plant. Photographer Don Wood, Bermagui Reserve south of Bermagui

Flowering plant. Photographer Jackie Miles

Common name

Leafy purple-flag

Family

Iridaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, and heath. Coast, ranges, and tablelands.

Notes

Shrub or perennial herb to 0.8 m high. Stem woody, few-branched, up to 40 cm long. Flower stalks hairless. Leaves in two rows on opposite sides of the stem, 10–60 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, flat, hairless, margins covered in minute hairs near the base. Bracts (spathes) at the base of the flowers finely grooved, sparsely hairy, becoming hairless, dark brown, with membranous translucent margins 2–3 mm wide, forming a structure to 40 mm wide. Flowers blue to mauve or pale violet, tubular, the tube 40–50 mm long, with 3 'petals' 20–30 mm long. Flowers opening one at a time from within the flower base, rarely 2 flowers open at the same time. Flowering: August–October.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Patersonia~glabrata  (accessed 30 January, 2021)