''Patersonia'', commonly known as native iris or native flag and are native to areas from

Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom. It has been given different definitions. The ...

to Australia.

Description

They are perennials with basal leaves growing from a woody

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 ...

that in some species extends above ground to form a short trunk. The leaves are tough and fibrous, often with adaptations for conserving moisture, such as

stomata In botany, a stoma (from Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth", plural "stomata"), also called a stomate (plural "stomates"), is a pore found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exchange. The pore is bor ...

sunk in grooves, a thickened cross-section, marginal hairs, and thickened margins. The flowers appear from between a pair of

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

on a leafless stem. They have three large outer

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 that are usually blue to violet, and three tiny inner tepals. There are three

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s fused at the base to form a tube around the longer style, which bears a flattened stigma.Goldblatt, P. (2011). Systematics of ''Patersonia'' (Iridaceae, Patersonioideae) in the Malesian archipelago. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 98: 514-523.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Patersonia'' was first formally described in 1807 by Robert Brown in the '' Botanical Magazine''. The genus name is a tribute to the first Lieutenant Governor of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in Australia, William Paterson, "a gentleman whose name has been long familiar to the naturalist".

Species list

The following is a list of ''Patersonia'' species accepted by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

as of October 2021: * ''

Patersonia argyrea ''Patersonia argyrea'' is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a tufted perennial herb with linear, sword-shaped leaves and violet tepals. Description ''Patersonia argyrea'' is a tufted peren ...

'' D.A.Cooke (W.A.) * ''

Patersonia babianoides ''Patersonia babianoides'' is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tufted, rhizome-forming herb with soft, linear to elliptic leaves and blue-violet tepals on a relatively ...

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

(W.A.) * ''

Patersonia borneensis ''Patersonia borneensis'' is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of Borneo. It is a tufted perennial with many leaves and pale lavender to bluish-purple tepals on a flowering stem shorter than the l ...

'' Stapf (Borneo) * ''

Patersonia drummondii ''Patersonia drummondii'', commonly known as Drummond's patersonia, is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tufted herb with linear, often twisted leaves and pale violet to ...

F.Muell. 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 Victo ...

– Drummond's patersonia (W.A.) * ''

Patersonia fragilis ''Patersonia fragilis'', commonly known as swamp iris or short purple-flag, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae family and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a tufted perennial herb with linear, cylindrical leaves and p ...

'' ( Labill.)

Asch. Paul Friedrich August Ascherson (June 4, 1834 – March 6, 1913) was a German botanist. His author citation is ''Asch.'', although ''Aschers.'' has been used in the past. Ascherson was born in Berlin in 1834 as the son of health counsellor. In 1 ...

& Graebn. - swamp iris, short purple-flag (S.A., Qld., N.S.W., Vic., Tas.) * ''

Patersonia glabrata ''Patersonia glabrata'', commonly known as leafy purple-flag, or bugulbi in the Cadigal language, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae family and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a perennial herb or subshrub with linear ...

'' R.Br. - leafy purple flag, bugulbi (Qld., N.S.W., Vic.) * ''

Patersonia graminea ''Patersonia graminea'', commonly known as grass-leaved patersonia, is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a clump-forming herb with linear, grass-like leaves and pale viole ...

'' Benth. – grass-leaved patersonia (W.A.) * ''

Patersonia inaequalis ''Patersonia inaequalis'', commonly known as unequal bract patersonia, is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to a restricted part of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tufted herb with linear, often twisted l ...

'' Benth. – unequal bract patersonia (W.A.) * ''

Patersonia inflexa ''Patersonia'', commonly known as native iris or native flag and are native to areas from Malesia to Australia. Description They are perennials with basal leaves growing from a woody rhizome that in some species extends above ground to form a sh ...

'' Goldblatt (Papua New Guinea) * ''

Patersonia juncea ''Patersonia juncea'', commonly known as rush leaved patersonia, is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to a restricted part of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tufted perennial herb with linear leaves and p ...

Lindl. John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

– rush-leaved patersonia (W.A.) * '' Patersonia lanata'' R.Br. – woolly patersonia (W.A.) * '' Patersonia limbata''

Endl. Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Pressburg, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botan ...

(W.A.) * '' Patersonia lowii'' Stapf (Borneo) * '' Patersonia macrantha'' Benth. (N.T.) * ''

Patersonia maxwellii ''Patersonia maxwellii'' is a species of flowering plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is a tufted, rhizome-forming perennial herb with linear leaves and violet tepals. Description ''Patersoni ...

'' (F.Muell.) F.Muell. ex Benth. (W.A.) * '' Patersonia neocaledonica'' Goldblatt & J.C.Manning (New Caledonia) * '' Patersonia novo-guineensis''

Gibbs Gibbs or GIBBS is a surname and acronym. It may refer to: People * Gibbs (surname) Places * Gibbs (crater), on the Moon * Gibbs, Missouri, US * Gibbs, Tennessee, US * Gibbs Island (South Shetland Islands), Antarctica * 2937 Gibbs, an asteroid ...

(New Guinea) * '' Patersonia occidentalis'' R.Br. (W.A., S.A., Vic., Tas.) * '' Patersonia philippinensis'' Goldblatt (

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

) * '' Patersonia pygmaea'' Lindl. (W.A.) * '' Patersonia rudis'' Endl. (W.A.) ** ''Petersonia rudis'' Endl. subsp. ''rudis'' ** ''Petersonia rudis'' subsp. ''velutina'' D.A.Cooke * ''

Patersonia sericea ''Patersonia sericea'', commonly known as purple flag or silky purple-flag is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a densely-tufted perennial herb with linear, sword-shaped leaves, broadly eg ...

'' R.Br. ** ''Patersonia sericea'' var. ''longifolia'' (R.Br.)

C.Moore Charles Moore (10 May 1820 – 30 April 1905) was an Australian botanist and director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Early life Charles Moore was born Charles Moir in Dundee, Scotland on 10 May 1820. His parents were Charles, a gardener, ...

– purple flag (N.S.W., Vic.) ** ''Patersonia sericea'' R.Br. var. ''sericea'' – silky purple-flag (Qld., N.S.W., Vic.) * '' Patersonia spirafolia'' Keighery (W.A.) * '' Patersonia sumatrensis'' Goldblatt (

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

) * '' Patersonia umbrosa'' Endl. (W.A.)

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q2712331, from2=Q22106709 Iridaceae genera