Neoastelia is a genus of plants in the family Asteliaceae containing the single species Neoastelia spectabilis, commonly known as the silver sword lily,[1] that is endemic to a small area on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is a species of herb with long, linear leaves and large groups of whitish flowers, followed by spherical, pale green berries.
Neoastelia spectabilis is a tufted herb with more or less linear leaves long and wide with drooping ends, and silvery white on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in panicles long on a thick peduncle long. Each panicle consists of smaller, many-flowered racemes with a spathe at the base, the individual flowers whitish and wide on a pedicel long. Flowering occurs from November to December and the fruit is an oval to spherical, pale green berry long containing between 70 and 150 small black seeds.[2] [3]
Neoastelia spectabilis was first formally described in 1987 by J.B. Williams in Flora of Australia from specimens he collected in 1978.[4]
Silver sword lily grows in rocks crevices near waterfalls and on wet rocks in the New England National Park in Antarctic beech (Nothofagus moorei) forest, at altitudes between .
This species is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the New South Wales Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. The main threats to the species include trampling by walkers, illegal collection and its small population size. It is only known from four populations in the New England National Park.[5] [6]