Patersonia sericea

A monocotyledonous, densely tufted, herbaceous perennial to 0.6 metres high by about 0.3 metres wide, with basal leaves growing from a woody rhizome. It is a native Iris.

It has a mostly coastal distribution in NSW but extends into the tablelands, as well as central and north-western slopes (west to about Dubbo). It extends through similar areas in Queensland, as far north as near Mackay and west of Springsure. It grows in north-eastern Victoria with disjunct records north of Bairnsdale, as well as around Albury.

It is typically found in heathlands and shrublands as well as dry sclerophyll forest and woodland, usually on sandy soils or sandstone.

Patersonia spp. have simple leaves with parallel venation, which are typically heavily clustered on the rhizome. The leaves are tough and fibrous and have evolved to reduce water loss. In this species, leaves are basal, linear, to 60 cm long and only 0.6 cm wide, typically mid to dark green in colour, often with some brown tones, flat to tubular with some hairs on the margins and densely hairy at the base.

Patersonia spp. produce flowers from between a pair of bracts on a leafless stem or scape.

They have three large outer tepals that are usually blue to violet, and three tiny inner tepals (petals and sepals which cannot be allocated assuredly). Individual flowers open for less than one day but many flowers are produced from the one stem.

In this species, flowers are blue violet to purple, rarely white, with 3 broad-ovate tepals to 30 mm long by 20 mm wide, extending from a tube to 30 mm long. The inner tepals are small to 2 mm long. Flowers open one at a time on the scapes, (rarely 2 flowers at the same time), occurring in winter-spring.

Patersonia produce a capsule-fruit; three-celled and triangular in cross section with abundant seed. In this species, the capsule is oval to cylindrical, to 25 mm long with cylindrical seeds to 3 mm long, waxy brown in colour.