Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Patersonia sericea

Flower (var. sericea). Photographer Jackie Miles

Flowering plant (var. sericea). Photographer Jackie Miles

Flowering plant (var. sericea). Photographer Don Wood, Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay National Park, NSW

Flower and leaves (var. longifolia). Photographer Jackie Miles

Flowering plant (var. longifolia). Photographer Don Wood, Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay National Park, NSW

Common name

(var. longifolia) Purple-Flag, Dwarf Purple-Flag

(var. sericea) Silky Purple-Flag

Family

Iridaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, and heath.

var. longifolia:  Mainly coast and ranges. Occasionally elsewhere.

var. sericea:  Widespread. No records from the Western Slopes.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.6 m high. Flower stalks hairy in the upper half. Leaves basal, 15–60 cm long, 1–6 mm wide. Bracts (spathes) at the base of the flowers prominently veined, white-silky to almost hairless, dark brown to blackish, with brown membranous margins 1–2 mm wide, forming a structure 7–20 mm wide. Flowers blue violet to purple, rarely white, tubular, the tube 15–30 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. Flowers winter-spring.

var. longifolia:  Leaves 1–2 mm wide, biconvex in cross section, smooth; margins fringed with hairs pointing upwards in diameter the leaf, sometimes almost hairless.

Rare Vic.

PlantNET description:  https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Patersonia~sericea+var.~longifolia (accessed 2 May 2021)

var. sericea:  Leaves 1.5–6 mm wide, flat in cross section and faintly grooved, to cylindrical and prominently grooved; margins hairy or almost hairless, never fringed with hairs pointing upwards in diameter the leaf.

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

PlantNET description:  https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Patersonia~sericea+var.~sericea (accessed 2 May 2021)