Doryanthes excelsa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gymea Lily

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Doryanthaceae
Genus:	Doryanthes
Species:	D. excelsa
Binomial name
*Doryanthes excelsa* Correa

Doryanthes excelsa, known as Gymea Lily, is a flowering plant indigenous to the coastal areas of New South Wales near Sydney.

The plant has sword-like leaves more than a meter long. It flowers in spring and summer, sending up a flower spike up to 6 m high, which at its apex bears a large cluster of bright red flowers, each 10 cm across.

The name "Gymea Lily" is derived from a local Eora dialect. Dory-anthes means spear-flower in Greek, and excelsa is Latin for exceptional. The Sydney suburbs of Gymea and Gymea Bay are named after the lily.

History

The genus Doryanthes was first described in 1802 by the Portuguese priest, statesman, philosopher and botanist José Francisco Correia de Serra (1750–1823), a close friend of Sir Joseph Banks. Doryanthes excelsa has also inspired the naming of Doryanthes, the journal of history and heritage for Southern Sydney founded by Dharawal historian Les Bursill.

References

Australian National Botanic Gardens:
- aboriginal use, retrieved 28 April 2006
- drawing, retrieved 28 April 2006
- a specimen in the ANBG, retrieved 11 October 2005.

Image gallery

Flowers
Flowers
Flowers and past seeds
Illustration
Sword-like leaves
Australian native growing in Heathcote National Park, Sydney

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.