Olsynium filifolium

For other uses, see Bermudiana (disambiguation).
pale maiden
An 1885 lithograph of Olsynium filifolium, then known as Sisyrinchium filifolium[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Subfamily: Iridoideae
Tribe: Sisyrinchieae
Genus: Olsynium
Species: O. filifolium
Binomial name
Olsynium filifolium
Gaudich.
Synonyms[2]

Bermudiana filifolia'
Olsynium lainezii
Phaiophleps lainezii
Sisyrinchium filifolium
Sisyrinchium filiforme
Sisyrinchium gaudichaudii
Sisyrinchium junceum subsp. filifolium
Symphyostemon lainezii

Olsynium filifolium (pale maiden), or Bermudiana filifolia,[3] is the only species of the iris family native to the Falkland Islands. It is much better known by its former name Sisyrinchium filifolium. Although it is no longer as common as it once was, it is widely distributed on the islands, and favours temperate dwarf shrub heath. It (or a closely related species) is also found in Patagonia.[4][5][6]

Description

Height is 10–30 centimetres (4–12 in) tall. Leaves are linear, 4–20 centimetres (1.6–7.9 in) long and 1–3 millimetres (0.04–0.12 in) broad.

Flowers are sweet smelling, and bell-shaped with six white tepals with pale purplish-red markings.[7] They bloom in spring, particularly in November.

References

  1. ↑ Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, vol. 111 [ser. 3, vol. 41]: t. 6829 (1885) [M. Smith] - http://plantillustrations.org/ILLUSTRATIONS_HD/4336.jpg
  2. ↑ "Olsynium filifolium (Gaudich.) Goldblatt, Syst. Bot. 15: 508 (1990).". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  3. ↑ [http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-326867 The Plant List: Bermudiana filifolia
  4. ↑ Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1847). The botany of the Antarctic voyage of HM discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839-1843 under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross (Vol I, Part 2). London. p. 352.
  5. ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  6. ↑ Múlgura, M.E. (1996). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de la República Argentina 1: 205-217. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
  7. ↑ Hince, Bernadette (2000). The Antarctic Dictionary: A Complete Guide to Antarctic English. CSIRO Publishing. p. 250. ISBN 9780957747111.