Thysanotus ellipsoideus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, and is endemic to the south coast of Western Australia. It is a perennialherb with an elliptic or spindle-shaped tuber, up to four leaves with sheathing bases, up to four purple flowers with fringed petals, six stamens and a pale green or yellowish ovary.
Thysanotus ellipsoideus is a perennial herb with a small rootstock, 5 to 18 elliptic to spindle-shaped tubers11–30mm (0.43–1.18in) long and 3–11mm (0.12–0.43in) in diameter on long, thin, wiry roots. There are up to four narrowly sheathing leaves 80–250mm (3.1–9.8in) long. The flowers are borne in umbels of up to four flowers, each flowering at a different time, each on a pedicel9.5–12.5mm (0.37–0.49in) long. The flowers are purple, with perianth segments 12–15.5mm (0.47–0.61in) long, the sepals 2.0–2.8mm (0.079–0.110in) wide, the petals elliptic about 3.8–7mm (0.15–0.28in) wide with a fringe up to 3–4.5mm (0.12–0.18in) long. There are six stamens, the ovary is pale green or yellowish with 9 to 11 ovules in each locule. Flowering has been recorded in December and January, and the fruit is cylindrical, enclosed in the withered perianth.[2]
This species grows in sand to sandy clay soils in low woodland and low heathland from the Lort River to Mount Ragged in the Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of southern Western Australia.[4]
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