Olsynium filifolium (pale maiden), or Bermudiana filifolia,[3] is the only species of the iris family native to the Falkland Islands. It is much better known by its former name Sisyrinchium filifolium. Although it is no longer as common as it once was, it is widely distributed on the islands, and favours temperate dwarf shrub heath. It (or a closely related species) is also found in Patagonia.[4][5][6]
| Olsynium filifolium | |
|---|---|
| |
| An 1885 lithograph of Olsynium filifolium, then known as Sisyrinchium filifolium[1] | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Iridaceae |
| Genus: | Olsynium |
| Species: | O. filifolium
|
| Binomial name | |
| Olsynium filifolium | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
|
Bermudiana filifolia
| |
Description
editHeight is 10–30 centimetres (4–12 in) tall. Leaves are linear, 4–20 centimetres (1.6–7.9 in) long and 1–3 millimetres (0.04–0.12 in) broad.
Flowers are sweet smelling, and bell-shaped with six white tepals with pale purplish-red markings.[7] They bloom in spring, particularly in November.
References
edit- ^ Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, vol. 111 [ser. 3, vol. 41]: t. 6829 (1885) [M. Smith] - http://plantillustrations.org/ILLUSTRATIONS_HD/4336.jpg
- ^ "Olsynium filifolium (Gaudich.) Goldblatt, Syst. Bot. 15: 508 (1990)". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ The Plant List: Bermudiana filifolia
- ^ Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1847). The botany of the Antarctic voyage of HM discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839-1843 under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross (Vol I, Part 2). London. p. 352.
- ^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ^ Múlgura, M.E. (1996). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de la República Argentina 1: 205-217. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
- ^ Hince, Bernadette (2000). The Antarctic Dictionary: A Complete Guide to Antarctic English. CSIRO Publishing. p. 250. ISBN 9780957747111.
