Flora of New Zealand Series

Watsonia

Robust clumps 1.5-2 m high. Corm ± 7 cm diam.; tunic of thick reticulate fibres. Stems to 2 cm diam. Leaves < stems, 2-5 cm wide. Inflorescence simple or branched, slightly > ½ plant-height; cormils red-brown, shining, 1-2.5 cm long, in axils of upper bract-like leaves, replacing flowers in lower spathe-valves. Flowers ± 9 cm long, 3-4 cm diam., brick-red or salmon-pink; tube 4-6 cm long, gradually widened above; lobes ascending-spreading, c. 2.5 cm long. Capsule not seen.

N. North Auckland and Auckland, common; Gisborne - Waimate; Wellington - Upper Hutt. S. Nelson - Collingwood, Motueka, Richmond. Garden escape on roadsides and in waste places,

(S. Africa)

First record: Allan 1931: 393, considered that Cheeseman' s record (1883: 293) of Antholyza aethiopica referred to Watsonia bulbillifera, since specimens in Cheeseman' s herbarium labelled A. aethiopica were W. bulbillifera.

First collection: Near Days Bay, Kirk, 8.2.1895 (WELT).

FL. 10-11.

Recognised by the clusters of red-brown cormils which replace the flowers in the lower part of the inflorescence, and by the tall stems.

A troublesome garden escape forming dense communities on damp roadsides, waste places, and vacant sections in urban localities - a so-called "local body weed" - in the Auckland Province, occasional elsewhere, and increasing in parts of the Nelson Province.

Corms and cormils dispersed in water in drains and along streams, in spoil used during road construction, and in mud on graders and other equipment.