Thysanotus manglesianus
Thysanotus manglesianus, commonly known as Mangles' fringed lily, is a species of flowering plant in the Asparagaceae family, and is widespread in the Western Australia. It is a twining, more or less leafless, perennial herb with tuberous roots, flowers arranged singly, with linear sepals, elliptic, fringed petals and six stamens.
Description
Thysanotus manglesianus is a twining perennial herb with a small rootstock and tuberous roots. Its leaves are produced infrequently, one or two terete leaves long. The stem is leafless, produced annually, and hairy only at the base, usually long, twining around vegetation or prostrate and usually has many dichotomous branches. The flowers are borne singly on branches on a pedicel long. The flowers are purple, the perianth segments long with linear sepals wide. The petals are elliptic, about wide with a fringe about long. There are six stamens, the outer anthers about long, the inner anthers about long and curved. The style is about long. Flowering occurs from August to November and the seeds are more or less spherical, about in diameter with a straw-coloured aril.
Taxonomy
Thysanotus manglesianus was first formally described in 1843 by Carl Sigismund Kunth in the his Enumeratio Plantarum Omnium Hucusque Cognitarum from specimens collected by James Mangles on the Swan River and by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré near Shark Bay. The specific epithet honours James Mangles.
Distribution and habitat
Mangles' fringed lily grows in sand, loam, laterite or on granite outcrops on sandplain, mallee and forest, and is widespread in the Avon Wheatbelt, Carnarvon, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Gascoyne, Geraldton Sandplains, Great Victoria Desert, Jarrah Forest, Little Sandy Desert, Mallee, Murchison, Pilbara, Swan Coastal Plain, Warren and Yalgoo bioregions of Western Australia.