''Olsynium filifolium '' (pale maiden), or ''Bermudiana filifolia'', is the only species of the iris family native to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

. 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 A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

heath. It (or a closely related species) is also found in Patagonia.

Description

Height is tall. Leaves are linear, long and broad. Flowers are sweet smelling, and bell-shaped with six white

tepal 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 ...

s with pale purplish-red markings. They bloom in spring, particularly in November.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7088588 Sisyrinchieae Flora of the Falkland Islands Flora of Argentina Plants described in 1825