What Is It

What is it?

• Giant tussock-like, rosette plant
• Size: up to 2.5 m high with a flower stalk up to 5 m high!
• Leaves: long, sword-shaped and forming a clump. Each individual leaf is 1 – 2.5 m long and about 10 cm wide. Shorter leaves up to 30 cm long are found along the flower stem.
• Flowers: located at the top of a single flower stem which grows from the centre of the tussock of leaves. The stem is 2 – 5 m high upon which the flowers form a cluster up to 70 cm in diameter. The individual flowers are bright red (or rarely white), trumpet-shaped and 10 – 16 cm long.
• Fruit/seed: a red-brown, woody seed pod, which is 7 – 10 cm long, contains flat, brown seeds which are 1.5 – 2.5 cm long.

What to observe?

• We expect plants to start shooting and flowering earlier in the year as a result of climate change warming the Earth. They may also start appearing in new areas, as warmer temperatures enable them to live in environments that were previously too cold for them.

Help scientists answer the question: "How are our animals, plants and ecosystems responding to climate change?" by making the following simple observations.

When

When to look

• From spring through summer
• Flower stem emerges from the tussock of leaves during winter.
• Flowers appear in spring and summer.
• Seed pods appear after flowers.
• Seed pods split open in January or February

Observations to record

• First fully open single flower
• All days with open flowers
• First seed pod to open (carefully observed so as not to damage the flowering stalk)

Please include the date of your observation, the location, and the environment you were in

Where

Where to look

• Look in urban areas, particularly in parks and along roadsides.

Note: ClimateWatch is looking for any changes in the timing of these events so remember to keep a lookout from July!

Where is it found?

• In open forest and woodland, and also in urban areas, in parks, gardens and along roadsides.
• It is naturally found along the east coast of New South Wales, from Newcastle to Wollongong, and also in a few isolated regions on the North Coast.
• However, it has proven adaptable to a range of climates and is now also grown in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Note: ClimateWatch is looking for any changes outside of their known ranges so remember to keep a lookout beyond these regions!

Sightings

References

Want to know more?

• Australian Biological Resources Study 1986. Flora of Australia Volume 46. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study.
• Clifford HT, Conran JG and Thongpukdee A 1992. Australian Lilies: Native and Naturalised species. Australian Plants 16 (132): 354.

References

• Botanic Gardens Trust, PlantNET: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Doryanthes~excelsa
• Botanic Gardens trust, Sydney: http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/education/Resources/bush_foods/Doryanthes_excelsa
• Australian National Botanic Gardens: http://www.anbg.gov.au/main-path/doryanthes.excelsa.html  and http://www.anbg.gov.au/aborig.s.e.aust/doryanthes-excelsa.html  and http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp12/doryanthes-excelsa.html
• Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants: http://asgap.org.au/d-exc.html
• Walther G, Post E, Convey P, Menzel A, Parmesan C, Beebee TJC, Fromentin J, Hoegh-Guldberg O, and Bairlein F 2002. Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature 416: 389–395.