Dianella longifolia

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Blueberry lily
Dianella sp. aff. longifolia (Benambra) (28042287902).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asphodelaceae
Subfamily: Hemerocallidoideae
Genus: Dianella
Species:
D. longifolia
Binomial name
Dianella longifolia
Inflorescence, near the Lane Cove River Smooth Flax Lily- Dianella longifolia (7075154909).jpg
Inflorescence, near the Lane Cove River
Var. longifolia flower detail, near Wollomombi Falls Dianella longifolia.jpg
Var. longifolia flower detail, near Wollomombi Falls

Dianella longifolia, commonly known as blueberry lily, pale flax lily or smooth flax lily, or blue flax-lily, [2] (although other species, or the whole genus Dianella are also referred to by this last name [3] [4] [5] ) is a species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae and is endemic to non-arid areas of Australia. It is a tufted, rhizomatous, perennial herb with grass-like leaves, pale blue, white or greenish flowers that have pale yellow anthers, and shiny, pale blue berries.

Contents

Description

Dianella longifolia is a rhizamatous, perennial herb that forms tufts up to about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall and has stems less than 10 cm (3.9 in) long. The leaves are folded lengthwise, grass-like, and 20–80 cm (7.9–31.5 in) long with a rounded to keeled sheath and 2–25 mm (0.079–0.984 in) wide. The inflorescence is longer than the leaves, the flowers pale blue, white or greenish and well separated from each other, each on a pedicel 7–16 mm (0.28–0.63 in) long. The three outer tepals are 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) and the inner tepals 5.5–9 mm (0.22–0.35 in) long, each with five veins. The stamens have filament swellings 1–2.3 mm (0.039–0.091 in) long and yellow anthers. Flowering occurs in spring and summer and the fruit is a pale blue berry 3–7 mm (0.12–0.28 in) long. [2] [6] [7]

Taxonomy and naming

Dianella longifolia was first described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen . [8] [9] The specific epithet (longifolia) is derived from Latin, meaning "long leaved". [10] [11]

Six varieties of D. longifolia have been described and accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Distribution and habitat

Blueberry lily is widespread and common in non-arid parts of Australia, including the Kimberley region, eastern and southern Australia and northern Tasmania. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dianella</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Dianella is a genus of about forty species of flowering plants in the monocot family Asphodelaceae, commonly known as flax lilies. Plants in this genus are tufted herbs with more or less linear leaves and bisexual flowers with three sepals more or less similar to three petals and a superior ovary, the fruit a berry. They occur in Africa, South-east Asia, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia.

<i>Grevillea humifusa</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea humifusa, commonly known as spreading grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate shrub with long, trailing stems, divided lives with linear lobes and clusters of pink to pale red and cream-coloured flowers with a reddish, yellow-tipped style.

<i>Corymbia gummifera</i> Species of plant

Corymbia gummifera, commonly known as red bloodwood, is a species of tree, rarely a mallee, that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and urn-shaped fruit.

<i>Dianella caerulea</i> Species of flowering plant

Dianella caerulea, commonly known as the blue flax-lily, blueberry lily, or paroo lily, is a perennial herb of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, found across the eastern states of Australia and Tasmania. It is a hardy plant, growing to a height and width of around 1 meter with grass-like strappy leaves. Blue flowers in spring and summer are followed by indigo-coloured berries. It adapts readily to cultivation and is commonly seen in Australian gardens and amenities plantings.

<i>Dianella revoluta</i> Species of flowering plant

Dianella revoluta, commonly known as blueberry lily, blue flax-lily, or black-anther flax-lily, a species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae and is endemic to, and widespread in Australia. It is a tufted, perennial herb with grass-like leaves and up to nine blue or violet flowers with six tepals, and stamens with bright yellow filaments and pale brown to almost black anthers.

<i>Grevillea ramosissima</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to south-eastern Australia

Grevillea ramosissima, commonly known as fan grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to eastern continental Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with lobed leaves and clusters of cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers.

<i>Neoastelia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Neoastelia is a genus of plants in the family Asteliaceae containing the single species Neoastelia spectabilis, commonly known as the silver sword lily, that is endemic to a small area on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is a species of herb with long, linear leaves and large groups of whitish flowers, followed by spherical, pale green berries.

<i>Stachystemon</i>

Stachystemon is a genus of nine species of flowering plants in the family Picrodendraceae, and is endemic to Western Australia. Plants in the genus Stachystemon are monoecious shrubs with simple, usually thickened leaves, and flowers arranged singly or in small groups in upper leaf axils, male flowers usually with four to six tepals, usually with seven to many stamens, and female flowers with four or six tepals and two styles in each flower.

<i>Patersonia sericea</i> Species of flowering plant

Patersonia sericea, commonly known as purple flag or silky purple-flag is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a densely-tufted perennial herb with linear, sword-shaped leaves, broadly egg-shaped, bluish-violet tepals and an oval capsule.

<i>Isopogon buxifolius</i> Species of shrub endemic to the south coast of Western Australia

Isopogon buxifolius is a species of plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an upright shrub with egg-shaped to elliptic or oblong leaves and clustered spikes of pink flowers.

<i>Isopogon teretifolius</i> Species of shrub of the family Proteaceae endemic to the southwest of Western Australia

Isopogon teretifolius, commonly known as nodding coneflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia It is an erect shrub with cylindrical, sometimes branched leaves, and flattened-spherical heads of hairy pinkish flowers.

Rodney John Francis Henderson is an Australian botanist, specialising in taxonomy who worked for more than 48 years for the Queensland Public Service, 41 of those years at the Queensland Herbarium until he retired in 2002. The families he studied included the Solanaceae, Liliaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Rubiaceae. There are about 3,500 labelled specimens in Australian herbaria collected by Henderson, sometimes with other botanists. He was often sought after as an expert in the application of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature because of his knowledge of the code and of botanical Latin and Greek.

<i>Pimelea imbricata</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea imbricata is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is native to the southwest of Western Australia and south-eastern South Australia. It is a shrub with narrowly elliptic leaves and erect, compact clusters of white or pink flowers surrounded by 10 to 22 green or red to purple involucral bracts.

<i>Grevillea hakeoides</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Grevillea hakeoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with flat, linear or more or less-cylindrical leaves and dome-shaped groups of flowers, the colour varying according to subspecies.

<i>Caesia micrantha</i> Species of flowering plant

Caesia micrantha is a species of flowering plant in the subfamily Hemerocallidaceae native to Western Australia.

<i>Dianella amoena</i> Species of flowering plant

Dianella amoena, commonly known as the matted flax-lily, is an endangered, herbaceous, perennial plant endemic to Australia. It belongs to the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. It has long grey-green leaves which grow in clumps from an underground rhizome, and displays blue-purple flowers in spring-summer, up to 90cm in height. The common name Matted Flax-lily refers to its extensively rhizomatous nature, sometimes forming large mats up to 5m wide.

Dianella brevipedunculata is a species of flax lily native to Eastern Australia. It is known as the blue flax lily.

<i>Patersonia umbrosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Patersonia umbrosa, commonly known as yellow flags, is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a loosely-tufted, rhizome-forming, perennial herb with linear to sword-shaped leaves and deep bluish-violet or bright yellow tepals.

<i>Senna pleurocarpa</i> Species of legume

Senna pleurocarpa, commonly known as fire bush or chocolate bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a spreading shrub with pinnate leaves with five to seven pairs of broadly elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets, and groups of five to twelve yellow flowers arranged in dense groups of twenty to sixty on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils.

<i>Pseudanthus ligulatus</i> Species of shrub

Pseudanthus ligulatus is a species of flowering plant in the family Picrodendraceae and is endemic to northern Queensland. It is a monoecious shrub with simple, lance-shaped or linear to narrowly oblong leaves and creamy white male and pale green female flowers arranged singly in upper leaf axils, but appearing clustered on the ends of branches.

References

  1. "Dianella longifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Henderson, Rodney J.F. "Dianella longifolia". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  3. "Blue flax lily (Dianella)". Children’s Health Queensland. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  4. "Dianella caerulea – blue flax lily". Gardening With Angus. 6 April 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  5. "Dianella brevipedunculata". Australian Plants Online. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  6. Wilson, Karen L. (2009–2010). "Dianella longifolia". PlantNET. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  7. Conran, John Godfrey. "Dianella longifolia". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  8. "Dianella longifolia". APNI. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  9. Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum quas annis 1802-1805. London: Typis R. Taylor et socii,1810. p. 280. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  10. Les Robinson – Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, ISBN   978-0-7318-1211-0 page 232
  11. "Dianella longifolia". Atlas of Living Australia. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  12. "Dianella longifolia var. fragrans". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  13. Henderson, Rodney J.F. "Dianella longifolia var. fragrans". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  14. "Dianella longifolia var. grandis". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  15. Henderson, Rodney J.F. "Dianella longifolia var. grandis". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  16. "Dianella longifolia var. longifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  17. Henderson, Rodney J.F. "Dianella longifolia var. longifolia". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  18. "Dianella longifolia var. longifolia". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  19. "Dianella longifolia var. stenophylla". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  20. Henderson, Rodney J.F. "Dianella longifolia var. stenophylla". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  21. Wilson, Karen L. (2009–2010). "Dianella longifolia var. stenophylla". PlantNET. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  22. "Dianella longifolia var. stupata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  23. Henderson, Rodney J.F. "Dianella longifolia var. stupata". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  24. "Dianella longifolia var. surculosa". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  25. Henderson, Rodney J.F. "Dianella longifolia var. surculosa". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 7 November 2020.