Aristea ecklonii (common names: blue flies, blue stars, blue-eyed iris, blue corn-lily[2]) is a plant species in the Iridaceae, first described in 1866. It is native to central and southern Africa from South Africa north to Cameroon and Tanzania.[1][3][4][5][6] The plant is an evergreen perennial with small, blue flowers, growing in clumps with upright, grass-like leaves 15–18 in (38–46 cm) in height.[2]

Aristea ecklonii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Genus: Aristea
Species:
A. ecklonii
Binomial name
Aristea ecklonii
Baker 1877
Synonyms[1]
  • Aristea dichotoma Eckl. ex Klatt 1866 not (Thunb.) Ker Gawl. 1827
  • Aristea lastii Baker
  • Aristea paniculata Pax
  • Aristea cyanea De Wild. 1921 not Aiton 1789
  • Aristea maitlandii Hutch. published without description
  • Aristea stipitata R.C.Foster

It is an invasive species in high mountain forests of Sri Lanka near Nuwara Eliya and Horton Plains,[7][8] in New Zealand where it is listed as a pest species on the NPPA banned list, and also Australia.[9]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. ^ a b Floridata entry
  3. ^ Lebrun J.-P. & Stork, A.L. (1995). Énumération des Plants à Fleurs D'Afrique Tropicale 3: 1–341. Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève.
  4. ^ Goldblatt, P. (1996). Iridaceae. Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1–89.
  5. ^ Geerinck, D (2005). Flore d'Afrique Centrale (Zaïre - Rwanda - Burundi) Iridaceae: 1–102. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, Meise.
  6. ^ Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14.: i–vi, 1–1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  7. ^ Milan Lu, "A growing threat" Archived 2016-08-13 at the Wayback Machine, Ceylon Today, 01.11.2011. Accessed 19.6.2016.
  8. ^ Ranwala S., Marambe B.*, Wijesundara S., Silva P., Weerakoon D., Atapattu N., Gunawardena J., Manawadu L. and Gamage G. "Post-entry risk assessment of invasive alien flora of Sri Lanka – present status, gap analysis, and the most troublesome alien invaders", Pakistan Journal of Weed Science 10/2012; 18:863–871.
  9. ^ Australian Rainforest Conservation Society. "Blue Stars, Aristea ecklonii – a potentially disastrous weed found at Springbrook". Retrieved 2016-06-20.