''Calectasia intermedia'', commonly known as blue tinsel-lily or eastern tinsel lily is a species of flowering plant in the family

Dasypogonaceae Dasypogonaceae is a family of flowering plants, one that has not been commonly recognized by taxonomists; the plants it contains were usually included in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae. If valid, Dasypogonaceae includes four genera with 16 species. ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the border areas of western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia and flowering in early spring. It is the only member of the genus ''

Calectasia ''Calectasia'' is a genus of about fifteen species of flowering plants in the family Dasypogonaceae and is endemic to south-western Australia. Plants is this genus are small, erect shrubs with branched stems covered by leaf sheaths. The flowers ...

'' that is not

to Western Australia.

Description

''Calectasia intermedia'' is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

growing to a height of about as an undershrub. The

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

is about long, horizontal and buried about deep and there are no stilt roots. The stems have many side branches and bear leaves with few hairs. Each leaf is about 5.7–16.8 x 0.5–0.8 mm (0.2–0.7 x 0.02–0.03 in) and tapers to a short, sharp point on the end. The base of the petals (strictly

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

) form a tube long, while the outer parts spread outwards to form a blue, papery star-like pattern which does not fade with age. In the centre of the star are six yellow stamens forming a tube which turns orange-brown with age. The thin style extends beyond the stamens. Flowers appear from September to October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Calectasia intermedia'' is one of eleven species in the genus ''

''. It was formally described in 1856 by German botanist

Otto Wilhelm Sonder Otto Wilhelm Sonder (18 June 1812, Bad Oldesloe – 21 November 1881) was a German botanist and pharmacist. Life A native of Holstein, Sonder studied at Kiel University, where he sat pharmaceutical examinations in 1835, before becoming the prop ...

, based on plant material collected by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in the

Grampians The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...

in Victoria. The description was published in the journal ''Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''intermedia'') is from the Latin ''intermedius'' "coming between", referring to its apparent intermediate appearance between '' C. cyanea'' and '' C. grandiflora'', the only two other species recognised at the time.

Distribution and habitat

''C. intermedia'' occurs from Bordertown in the far south-eastern corner of South Australia including the

Calectasia Conservation Park __NOTOC__ Calectasia Conservation Park, formerly the Calectasia National Parks Reserve, is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia in the locality of Wattle Range about south-east of the state capital of Adelaide an ...

, east to the

and

Little Desert Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, south-western Victoria. It grows in open Eucalyptus woodland on sandy soil and in heath. Its distribution is sporadic, due to the clearing of its habitat but it is not considered to be at risk.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5019334

intermedia Intermedia is an art theory term coined in the mid-1960s by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins to describe various interdisciplinarity art activities that occur between genres, beginning in the 1960s. It was also used by John Brockman to refer to works ...

Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Taxa named by Otto Wilhelm Sonder Plants described in 1856