Aristea ecklonii explained

Aristea ecklonii (common names: blue flies, blue stars, blue-eyed iris, blue corn-lily^[1]) is a plant species in the Iridaceae, first described in 1866. It is native to central and southern Africa from South Africa north to Cameroon and Tanzania.^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]} The plant is an evergreen perennial with small, blue flowers, growing in clumps with upright, grass-like leaves 15–18 in (38–46 cm) in height.^[1]

It is an invasive species in high mountain forests of Sri Lanka near Nuwara Eliya and Horton Plains,^{[7] [8]} in New Zealand where it is listed as a pest species on the NPPA banned list, and also Australia.^[9]

Notes and References

1. http://www.floridata.com/ref/A/aris_eck.cfm Floridata entry
2. http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=326583 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
3. Lebrun J.-P. & Stork, A.L. (1995). Énumération des Plants à Fleurs D'Afrique Tropicale 3: 1–341. Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève.
4. Goldblatt, P. (1996). Iridaceae. Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1–89.
5. Geerinck, D (2005). Flore d'Afrique Centrale (Zaïre - Rwanda - Burundi) Iridaceae: 1–102. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, Meise.
6. Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14.: i–vi, 1–1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
7. Milan Lu, "A growing threat", Ceylon Today, 01.11.2011. Accessed 19.6.2016.
8. Ranwala S., Marambe B.*, Wijesundara S., Silva P., Weerakoon D., Atapattu N., Gunawardena J., Manawadu L. and Gamage G. "Post-entry risk assessment of invasive alien flora of Sri Lanka – present status, gap analysis, and the most troublesome alien invaders", Pakistan Journal of Weed Science 10/2012; 18:863–871.
9. Australian Rainforest Conservation Society. "Blue Stars, Aristea ecklonii – a potentially disastrous weed found at Springbrook". Retrieved 2016-06-20.