Flora of North America species comparison

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Dianella

dianella, flax-lily
Habit Herbs, perennial, evergreen, scapose, mat-forming, from stout, creeping, scaly rhizomes with fibrous, tuberous roots.
Leaves

basal, radical, distichous, crowded, sheathing, firm to subcoriaceous;

blade linear to broadly ensiform, basal sheaths connate into short tubes, margins entire or serrulate, apex obtuse.
Scape

elongate, 0.5–1 m. Inflorescences paniculate, loosely branching with short, terminal racemes, bracteate;

bracts small.
Flowers

nodding to ascending;

tepals 6, persistent, withering, distinct, subequal, narrowly oblong to ovate, 3–7-veined;

stamens 6, distinct;

filaments barely adnate to tepal bases, thickened distally;

anthers basifixed, dehiscence extrorse, opening by terminal pores that become longitudinal slits;

ovary superior, 3-locular, septal nectaries present;

style filiform;

stigma minute, capitate;

pedicel slender, articulate distally.
Fruits

rather long-persistent, baccate, blue to bluish purple, ovoid-globose.
Seeds

black, lustrous, ovate, somewhat flattened.
x

= 8.

Dianella
Distribution
from USDA
tropical Africa; Asia; Australia; and Polynesia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 12–20 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 221. Author: Frederick H. Utech.
Parent taxa Liliaceae
Subordinate taxa
D. ensifolia
Name authority Lamarck ex Jussieu: Gen. Pl., 41. (1789)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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