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Patersonia occidentalis
Also called Purple Flag
Patersonia occidentalis, commonly known as purple flag, or long purple-flag, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae and is endemic to southern Australia. It is a tufted, rhizome-forming perennial with narrow, sharply-pointed, strap-like leaves, egg-shaped, bluish violet sepals and a cylindrical capsule. The Noongar name for the plant is komma.
Cultivated in gardens the species is frost tolerant and able to cope in a dry position.
Purple flag occurs in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. In Western Australia it grows in winter-wet areas, on sand dunes and around granite outcrops and is widespread and common between the Murchison River in the north and Israelite Bay in the south. In South Australia P. occidentalis grows in heath and in clearings, usually in poorly-drained sites and is only found in the south-east of the state. In Victoria the species is widespread in near-coastal areas on poorly-drained sites and in Tasmania it forms clumps in swampy places in the north and east of the state.
Patersonia argyrea · Patersonia babianoides · Patersonia borneensis · Patersonia drummondii · Short Purple Flag · Leafy Purple Flag · Patersonia graminea · Patersonia inaequalis · Rush Leaved Patersonia · Woolly Patersonia · Patersonia limbata · Patersonia macrantha
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Patersonia occidentalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
