Thysanotus tuberosus

Common Fringe Lily

Family: Liliaceae

The Common Fringe Lily is found in a variety of situations, from dry hillsides and open forest, to moist heath and woodlands.

The stalk is 40 or 50 cm long, with conspicuous slender basal leaves 10-20 cm long.

There are groups of 1 to 4 flowers at the ends of short branchlets. The mauve flowers have 3 broad fringed petals alternating with 3 narrower sepals, all 12-15 mm long. Each flower only opens for one day, but the plants keep flowering over weeks.

The name tuberosus comes from the crisp tuberous root which is edible.

Thysanotus juncifolius is another Fringe Lily species which grows in Lane Cove National Park. It is less common than Thysanotus tuberosus. It is distinguished by several features: the roots are horizontal fibrous rhizomes rather than tubers; there are no basal leaves.

Both species of Thysanotus flower in Spring and Summer.