Thysanotus tuberosus

The wildflowers of southeastern Australia must be near their peak since David M. aka petrichor@Flickr of Sydney continues to find intriguing plants to share (original via BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Once again, don''t forget to visit David''s weblog, Kipili.com.

Fringed lily or fringe lily is another one of those lily-relative plants that taxonomists have difficulty placing in a particular family. I''ve seen it listed in the Liliaceae (ASGAP), the Asphodelaceae (Plants for a Future Database), the Anthericaceae (New South Wales Flora Online), and, what seems to be currently accepted by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (and a family I don''t think I''ve heard of before), the Laxmanniaceae. One day, perhaps, all of these vexing taxonomic problems will be resolved and a stable portrait will emerge.

The web page by the Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants (ASGAP) suggested above explains the scientific name of the plant: Thysanotus is derived from the Greek thysanotos, meaning fringed; tuberosus is from the Latin tuberculum, or a swelling. The latter name refers to the underground tubers, illustrated on the NSW Flora page linked-to in the second paragraph. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin    Source