Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea (Herb.) Goldblatt APNI*
Description: Herb to 20 cm high; bulb c. 2 cm diam.; tunic scarious, brown.
Leaves 3–6, 5–18 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, lax.
Flowering stem few-branched; stem bracts 1–3, lanceolate, 3–6 cm long, acuminate; spathe bracts enclosing 1 or 2 flowers, outer one 2–4 cm long, inner 3–4.5 cm long. Perianth pale blue; outer tepals oblanceolate, 2–2.5 cm long, with dark triangle near base and white, spotted claw; inner tepals lanceolate, 5–7 mm long, with dark nectary. Staminal filament tube c. 5 mm long; anthers 7–10 mm long, spreading. Style branches c. 5 mm long, 2-fid for 2 mm; margins membraneous, wing-like.
Capsule ovoid, truncate, 15–20 mm long, dehiscing at apex only; seeds compressed-ovoid, 1–2 mm long, wrinkled, dark brown.
Flowering: October–December
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in disturbed sites in grassland; from Sydney district to Dungog. Native of Texas and Louisiana (U.S.A).
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC
The single subspecies in NSW. Characters and distribution as for the species in NSW. |
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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