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Bulbinella rossii
Ross lily is a large, cold-tolerant bulbous megaherb from New Zealand's subantarctic islands, grown mainly by collectors of hardy, unusual plants. Its key requirement is cool, moist, open ground that is never waterlogged in summer heat.
Bulbinella rossii, commonly known as the Ross lily, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae. It is an endemic megaherb of New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands and Campbell Island. It was first described in 1845 by Joseph Dalton Hooker in the Flora Antarctica, from material collected on Campbell Island, as Chrysobactron rossii.
Bulbinella rossii reaches a height of up to 1 metre (3 feet 3 inches). Its leaves are strap-like, dark-green in colour and are up to 0.6–1 metre (2 feet 0 inches – 3 feet 3 inches) long. Its inflorescences (flower clusters) have a cylindrical raceme up to 600 mm long, with densely crowded golden-yellow flowers. The roots of B. rossii are often eaten by introduced pigs, but the species is avoided by cattle, goats and sheep. B. rossii occurs from sea level to high-altitude areas and prefers colder habitats with high water content. B.
Bulbinella species are predominantly endemic to South Africa, but six species are endemic to New Zealand, most of which are found predominantly in the South Island. B. rossii is endemic to New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands and Campbell Islands. There, it is common and widespread from sea level to the highest parts of the island's mountains. Because it thrives where the ground has been disturbed, and because it is not particularly of interest to browsing animals, it is common near former human habitation sites, and may form dense colonies in open herbfields and tussock grasslands.
Maori Onion · Bulbinella barkerae · Cat's Tail Bulbinella · Birdsnest Catstail · Bulbinella gibbsii · Maori Onion · Bulbinella modesta · Water Catstail · Bulbinella talbotii · Catstails
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bulbinella rossii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
