Plants of the Castlemaine District.

Chocolate and Vanilla Lilies - natives (Arthropodium species)

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Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family). These lilies were formerly included in the Lily family (the Liliaceae). The Lily family has now been broken up into several smaller families.

Key identification features are the presence or absence of hairs on the staminal filaments, and the presence or not of appendages on the anthers. The number of flowers at each node is also important.

  FEATURE Chocolate Lily (A. strictum)Small Vanilla Lily (A. minus) Chocolate Lily sp 3 (A. sp. 3)Nodding Chocolate Lily (A. fimbriatum)Pale Vanilla Lily (A. milleflorum)
 Hairs on staminal filamentsnonewhite to purplenonenonewhite to purple
 Anther appendagesbright yellownone bright yellowpurplenone
 Flowers per nodeoneone severalseveral several
 Flower colourdark pale to dark darkpale pale
 Abundancevery commoncommon.rare uncommonuncommon
lilylily

Chocolate Lily (Arthropodium stictum).

Recognise by

It is very common.

Photos: Castlemaine and Maldon


lilylily

Small Vanilla Lily (Arthropodium minus)

Recognise by

It is moderately common.

Photos: Muckleford and Castlemaine Botanic Gardens.




Arthropodium species 3.

It resembles a Chocolate Lily but but has more than one flower per node.

it differs from Nodding Chocolate Lily by the non-nodding flowers, and the anther appendages.

This chocolate lily was reported from the Sandon district. I have not found it, but it could readily be overlooked. Flowers later than A.minus and A. strictum

lilylily

Nodding Chocolate Lily (Arthropodium fimbriatum).

Recognise by

It is moderately common.

Photos: Maldon.
lilylily

Pale Vanilla Lily (Arthropodium milleflorum.) Recognise by

It is uncommon in the dry forests. It is much more common in higher rainfall areas.

Photos: Mt Buffalo and Metcalfe.