''Patersonia sericea'', commonly known as purple flag or silky purple-flag is a species of plant in the iris family

Iridaceae Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It include ...

and is

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 eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a densely-tufted

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 ...

with linear, sword-shaped leaves, broadly egg-shaped, bluish-violet

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 and an oval capsule.

Description

The purple flag is a densely-tufted perennial herb growing to a height of up to . It has linear, sword-shaped, grass-like green leaves long and wide. The flowering scape is long with the sheath enclosing the flowers egg-shaped to lance-shaped, dark brown to blackish, prominently veined and long. The outer tepals are bluish-violet, long and wide, the inner tepals about long and the

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 ...

filaments long and joined for part of their length. Flowering mainly occurs from June to November, each flower open for one day, but each stem producing many flowers. The fruit is an oval capsule long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Patersonia sericea'' was first described in 1807 by Robert Brown in ''

Curtis's Botanical Magazine ''The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed'', is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine''. Each of the issue ...

'', from specimens "''...furnished us by Messrs.

Lee and Kennedy Lee and Kennedy were two families of prominent Scottish nurserymen in partnership for three generations at the Vineyard Nursery in Hammersmith, west of London. Contains biographical entries concerning the Lees and Kennedys. "For many years," wrote ...

, of

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, ''West London'' who received the seeds, from which they raised it, from Port Jackson''". 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 ...

(''sericea'') is derived from the Latin word ''sericus'' meaning "silken", referring to the hairs at the base of the juvenile leaves. The names of two varieties of ''P. sericea'' are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''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, ...

has leaves wide and mostly smooth with hairs on the edges turned inwards against the surface; * ''Patersonia sericea'' R.Br. var. ''sericea'' has leaves wide, the edges lacking the reflexed hairs of var. ''longifolia''. ''Patersonia longifolia'' was described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Novae ...

'' but reduced to a variety in 1893 by Charles Moore in the ''Handbook of the Flora of New South Wales''.

Distribution and habitat

Purple flag (var. ''longifolia'') grows in open forest and heath on the coast and ranges on soils derived from sandstone, from the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

in New South Wales to the

Genoa River Genoa River is a perennial river located in the Monaro region of New South Wales and flows into the East Gippsland region of Victoria in Australia. It used to be known as Bondi Creek or Yard Creek. The river's name derives from the First People ...

in far north-eastern Victoria. Silky purple-flag (var. ''sericea'') is found in forest, woodland and heath on the coast and tablelands, and grows on soils derived from sandstone or granite, in south-eastern Queensland, eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria.

Conservation

''Patersonia sericea'' is not considered to be at risk in the wild.

Use in horticulture

It is a reliable species in cultivation, thriving in hot, dry situations and is also frost tolerant. It is useful grown ''en masse'' in a bed of

perennial plant 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 ...

Ecology

''Patersonia sericea'' is used as larval food by two species of butterfly, the eastern iris-skipper ''( Mesodina halyzia)'' and montane iris-skipper ''( Mesodina aeluropis)''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15579097 sericea Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Victoria (Australia) Asparagales of Australia Plants described in 1807 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)