Blandfordia grandiflorus

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Plant  information

Common name:                Christmas Bells  

Conservation status:  . . .

Etymology:   

• The name Blandfordia honors the Marquis of Blandford

• The specific epithet grandiflora is derived from the Latin word grandis meaning "great"  and the suffix -flora meaning "flowered"

Flowers:                  

• 2 to 20 large, drooping, bell-shaped flowers

• The three sepals and three petals are fused to form a bell-shaped flower 

• Red with yellow tips, or sometimes entirely yellow

• Usually 35–60 mm long and about 18–30 mm wide at the tip

• Each on a pedicel stalk up to 45 mm long with a small bract near its base

• At the tip where there are six pointed lobes about 11 mm long

• The stamens are attached to the inside wall of the flower tube, just below its middle

• Flowering occurs from late spring to early summer

Fruit:                         

• A capsule about 60 mm long on a stalk up to 60 mm long

Leaves:        

• Flat, linear, channelled leaves usually up to 80 cm  long and 7 mm wide

Stem & branches: 

• Unbranched stem, up to 80 cm long; sometimes up to 175 cm long

• About 7 mm wide 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A tufted perennial herb 

Habitat:   

• Grows in damp soils on the coast and tablelands

• The wet coastal heaths having sandy soil 

• Indirect sunlight or in heavy shade

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to eastern Australia

• NSWs, Fraser Island in Queensland and inland as far as Glen Innes

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy and naming

  • Blandfordia grandiflora was first described in 1810 by Robert Brown, who collected specimens near the Hunter River

  • The description was published in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen

• Use in horticulture

  • Although endemic to Australia, in the nineteenth century many botanists grew it in Great Britain because it can easily be grown as a potted plant

  • Grows well in sandy soils

  • The wet coastal heaths of Australia, such as those found in New South Wales and Queensland, have the sandy soil necessary for it to grow

  • The soil should be light and well-drained, and the plant should not be in direct sunlight or in heavy shade

  • Although it is the most robust of the four species, B. grandiflora is very slow growing, so more aggressive plants easily swamp it in the wild

• Culture

  • The species was illustrated on Australian stamps issued in 1960 and Christmas 1967

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blandfordia_grandiflora (2023)