PBS Forum

Thank you @Uli for your suggestion. I was entertaining the idea that it might have been a juvenile Agapanthus praecox, which are commonly grown in surburban gardens. I'll admit that the plant in the photos more closely resembles one of the Chlorophytum spp. (I chanced upon a juvenile Agapanthus in the field the day before, and the appearance is quite different.) Flora of Victoria (the State Flora) acknowleges the presence of C. comosum: "Widely cultivated as a house plant, with variegated forms common in cultivation. Both the variegated 'Variegatum' and non-variegated form are naturalised around Melbourne." If my colleague does keep the plant, we can identify it when it flowers.

A colleague has asked me about a monocot that has appeared in her backyard in northern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is likely to be an introduced species, given that it does not resemble any indigenous Asparagales, and that it may be a contaminant in the new garden soil she has recently installed. I have some knowledge of Iridaceae, and I am sure this is not one of them. Any help is appreciated.

G'day

My colleague has found an unknown iris on a conservation reserve in Victoria, Australia. He reported > 10 individuals over a small area.

It appears to be a Herbertia. When I visited the site over a week later, I was not able to relocate the plant, even with GPS data. So it seems to be a short-flowering species.

I wasn't able to key it out in Flora of Victoria as there is no entry for Herbertia, even though other exotic genera from Iridaceae are present in the Flora.

Can anyone verify that the genus is correct, and if possible, give a species epithet?

Many thanks!

(Photo credit: J. Birckhead)

I had permission to remove the mystery Lachenalia from the public reserve. It has started flowering, and is beginning to resemble L. aloides rather than L. bulbifera visually.

Thank you @Michael Mace and @Fermi. I agree it would be either L. aloides or L. bulbifera, with a greater chance that it is L. aloides. 

I looked up both species on the Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au). There is one record of L. bulbifera (1965) in Victoria, compared to 14 records of L. aloides. Interestingly, the closest record of L. aloides to my sighting was made in 2013 about 10 km away. 

Yes, it is likely to be a "garden escapee." I did not mention in my first post that the Lachenalia was growing among a clump of Watsonia meriana var. bulbillifera in the conservation reserve, and it was clear that the watsonia was invading the  reserve from a neighbouring property. 

I will keep an eye on the plant, and repost a photo when it is in flower.

I'm writing from Victoria, Australia — I need help putting a species name to a Lachenalia I spotted in a local reserve.

The site (Lat/Lon -37.453 145.089) falls under climatic zone 6, and received a dusting of frost that morning; the plant did not seem worse for it.
Strangely, the online Flora of Victoria does not have any entry on the genus, so I wasn't able to key it.
On the photos, the punnet is 10 cm high as a guide.
Thanks for your help in identifying this.

Cheers,
Wun Ho
Victoria, Australia