FLORAL FRIDAY FOTOS: Asphodelaceae

Thursday, 6 October 2016

FFF254 - BLUE FLAX LILY

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 herbaceous strappy perennial plant to a metre high, with dark green blade-like leaves to 70 cm long. 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.

Dianella caerulea is a strappy herbaceous fruit bearing plant to about 1 metre high, with a thick spreading rhizome under the ground. The bright green leaves have straight or toothed margins, and may reach 75 cm in length and 0.3-2.5 cm wide. The small (1-1.6 cm diameter) flowers bloom in spring and summer (August to January); the perianth is pale to a dark blue, or green-blue, and the anthers at the centre are yellowy brown. These are followed by small roughly spherical indigo-coloured berries which range from about 0.7 to 1.2 cm in diameter. These fruit are edible.

The plant is distributed through a range in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Queensland. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, from coastal heathland and even sand dunes.Believed to have been first propagated in England in 1783, Dianella caerulea is commonly cultivated in gardens, and is sometimes seen as a low-hedging plant in public spaces and amenities plantings. It is very hardy and long-lived, and suitable for rockeries. It is tolerant of poor drainage and responds well to extra moisture.

Plants attract fruit-eating birds and butterflies in garden settings. The smaller denser forms in particular have potential for small gardens. Dianella caerulea is a very hardy (snow and frost hardy) and long-lived plant once established. It can tolerate damp conditions but prefers moist well drained soil. It adapts readily to cultivation.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!

****If you take part in the meme, please show an active link back to this site on your own blog post!****

Thursday, 4 August 2016

FFF246 - ALOE MACULATA

Aloe maculata (synonym Aloe saponaria; commonly known as the soap aloe or zebra aloe) is a Southern African species of aloe in the Asphodelaceae family. Local people in South Africa know it informally as the "Bontaalwyn" in Afrikaans, or "Lekhala" in the Sesotho language.

It is a very variable species and hybridises easily with other similar aloes, sometimes making it difficult to identify. The leaves range in colour from red to green, but always have distinctive "H-shaped" spots. The flowers are similarly variable in colour, ranging from bright red to yellow, but are always bunched in a distinctively flat-topped raceme. The inflorescence is borne on the top of a tall, multi-branched stalk and the seeds are reputedly poisonous.

This species was previously known as Aloe saponaria (a name that came from the Latin "sapo" meaning soap, as the sap makes a soapy lather in water - the juice from the leaves is traditionally used as soap by indigenous people). Its currently accepted name, according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), is Aloe maculata ("maculata" means speckled or marked). Taxonomically, it forms part of the Saponariae series of very closely related Aloe species, together with Aloe petrophila, Aloe umfoloziensis, Aloe greatheadii and Aloe davyana.

The Soap Aloe is highly adaptable and is naturally found in a wide range of habitats across Southern Africa, from Zimbabwe in the north, to the Cape Peninsula in the south. Specifically, it is native to southern and eastern South Africa, south-eastern Botswana and Zimbabwe. In addition, it is now planted around the world as a popular landscape plant in warm desert regions – especially in the United States, where it is the most popular ornamental aloe in the Tucson, Arizona area, and is also popular in California.