Flowers. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, SE of Tibooburra, NSW

Flowering plant. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, SE of Tibooburra, NSW

Flowering plant. Rights A&M. Kapitany, http://www.australiansucculents.com/

Common Name

Native Onion, Bulbine Lily, Leek Lily

Family

Asphodelaceae

Notes

Annual forb to 45cm tall.  Leaves clustered at the base of the plant, 2-30cm long, to 3mm wide, the basal 1-3cm of the leaves 4-16mm wide, linear or cylindrical to channelled, hairless, glaucous.  Flowers yellow, with 6 'petals', in a raceme  of 1-30 flowers on one or more stems arising from the base of the plant.  Family Liliaceae in SA. 

Differs from Bulbine semibarbata in that the stamens have red hairs at the bases of all six anthers (or are sometimes almost hairless); and the seeds have a narrow wing 0.5mm wide.  Differs from Bulbine bulbosa in that the flowers are much smaller ('petals' 4-6mm long) and the filaments of three stamens are much shorter than the filaments of the other three. 

Short description (as Bulbinopsis alata) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales, page 182. 

PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Bulbine~alata