This pretty little member of the Iridaceae family is considered a weed in Australia as each bulb can make an incredible amount of seeds e...Read Moreach spring by fertilising its own flowers without the help of any insects, although ants seem to be quite fond of the flowers and often run all over them. The drying pods burst with some force, scattering the seeds everywhere. Once the seeds start to ripen on my plants I put a rigid plastic hat made from the top of a clear juice bottle over the plants to keep the seeds from escaping. It is a fairly common weed of neglected lawns, waste ground and roadside verges.
The basal corms grow quite deeply in the ground for such a small bulb, usually well over 150mm (6 inches) down making it difficult to remove by cultivation. In late winter the single narrow leaf emerges which gives it its common name. This extraordinary structure is less than 3mm across (about one eighth of an inch) but can reach a length in excess of 60cm (2 feet)! Flowering begins in the spring and can continue for several weeks even though each flower only opens for one day, during the hottest hours. I'm very fond of this plant myself but I can't in all honesty give it a positive rating due to its invasive tendencies.
This pretty little member of the Iridaceae family is considered a weed in Australia as each bulb can make an incredible amount of seeds e...Read More