Flower. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, ACT

Flowers. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, ACT

Flowering plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Plants. Photo: Don Wood, south coast, NSW

Plants. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, ACT

Common Name

Native Leek; Leek Lily, Wild Onion

Family

Asphodelaceae

Notes

Annual or sometimes biennial forb to 50cm tall.  Leaves clustered at the base of the plant, 1.5-27cm long, to 5mm wide (basal 1.5-3.5cm of leaves 5-10mm wide), hairless, channeled.  Flowers yellow, with 6 'petals', in racemes of 1-35 flowers on one or more stems arising from the base of the plant.  Family Liliaceae in SA.

Differs from Bulbine alata in that the stamens have hairs at the bases only of the three longer anthers; and the seeds have no wings.  Differs from Bulbine bulbosa in that the flowers are much smaller ('petals' 4-7mm long), and the filaments of three of the stamens are much shorter than the filaments of the other three. 

Short description and photo of flowering plant (as Bulbinopsis semibarbata) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 183

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