Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Commelinales
Family: Philydraceae
Genus: Helmholtzia
Species: H. glaberrima
Binomial name: Helmholtzia glaberrima
Common name: Stream Lily, Flax Lily
Helmholtzia glaberrima is a rare rhizomatous perennial plant which is native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia. H. glaberrima has fan-like tuffs of long, leathery, dark-green sword-shaped leaves. It forms clumps that are up to 1.5 metres high from branched rhizomes. The leaves are up to 1.5m long and are up to 7 cm wide.
The tall flower spikes (70 cm long) appear in the summer and are covered in creamy white to pale pink flowers. The fruit is a capsule up to 7 mm long.
Photographed at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth.
The top surface of the leaves.
The undersurface of a leaf.
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
