Dianella ensifolia (L.) Redouté

ensifolia: sword-leaved.

Perennial herb up to 1.5 m tall, growing from a woody, horizontal rhizome, often forming dense colonies. Leaves 5-12, distichous, up to 50 cm long; basal part folded lengthwise, flattened, like a pseudopetiole; margin and midrib narrowly winged and bearing small forwardly pointing prickles. Inflorescence a lax panicle, taller than the leaves. Tepals 5-7 mm, pale mauve-blue. Fruit up to 8 mm in diameter, subspherical, glossy blue.

Local

In Africa only known from the slower slopes of the Chimanimani Mountains in Mozambique and Zimbabwe but elsewhere in Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and possibly other western Indian Ocean Islands, Noerthwest India and adjacent areas in Asia.