Alstroemeria aureaPeruvian lily. From Chile and Argentina despite its common name. Cultivated in areas throughout the world that escape hard freezes . Photographed in a private garden in Berkeley, CA.
Prestons (outer western suburb of Sydney), New South Wales.This and about 15 other Australian genera are now placed in Hemerocallidaceae in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, together with Hemerocallis itself and the New Zealand Phormium (plus several others from Eurasia and Africa). An interesting feature of some of these Australian ones is the way the old perianths become helically twisted and semi-liquefied -- as can be seen in this shot (view larger). Hemerocallis does the liquefying thing, I have noticed, but not the twisting -- or does it?This species is very common in a range of vegetation type in eastern NSW, though inconspicuous when not in flower. It has basal linear leaves but these soon wither and the apparently evergreen flowering stems replace them as the photosynthetic organs.
