Australian Tropical Rainforest - Online edition amboinensis (L.) Herb. Family: Herbert, W. (1821) An Appendix : 42. Common name: Cardwell Lily Stem Usually flowers and fruits as a herb but grows to 1 m or more. All parts arise from a subterranean . Leaves Leaves produced after flowering. Leaves basal, arising from an underground bulb. Leaf blades +/- orbicular, reniform or broadly ovate, about 20-30 x 15-35 cm, petioles about 15-60 cm long, +/- erect with a groove on one side. Flowers Inflorescence basal, peduncle about 60-100 cm long. Umbel about 5-25-flowered. Pedicels about 3 cm long. Perianth tube about 3-3.5 cm long, lobes about 3.5 cm long. Staminal filaments free in the Habit, leaves and flowers. © B. upper part but fused into a tube towards the base. Free staminal filaments about 20-25 mm long, Gray anthers about 8-9 mm long. Style about 6.5 cm long, exceeding the stamens. Fruit Fruits globose, about 15-30 mm diam., irregularly dehiscent. 'Seeds' consisting of concentric onion- like (Allium cepa) layers. Seedlings One or two cataphylls produced before the first true leaves. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves emerge from below ground level. Leaf blade orbicular or cordate, petiole long, much longer than the leaf blade. Bulb about 1.5-2 cm diam. or larger. Seed germination time 212 to 234 days. Distribution and Ecology Fruit, many views. © W. T. Occurs in CYP, NEQ and CEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 800 m. Usually grows in wet Cooper sclerophyll or open forest but also found in monsoon forest and some of the drier rain forests. Also occurs in Malesia. Natural History & Notes This species forms large colonies in situations from coastal rain forest to vine thickets. An excellent bulb cultivated for the large ornamental leaves and the white flowers. Synonyms Eurycles amboinensis (L.) Lindley, Encycl. Pl. : 242(1829). amboinensis L., Species Plantarum : 291(1753), Type: Illust. plant (ex ) grown in Amsterdam, Commelin, Hort. Med. Amstel. Pl. 1: 77, t. 39 (1697). Eurycles australasicus (Ker Gawl.) G.Don, Hort. Brit. : 117(1830). Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO RFK Code 3055

Cotyledon stage with 3 leaves, hypogeal germination. © CSIRO Copyright © CSIRO 2020, all rights reserved.

Cotyledon stage with 1 leaf, hypogeal germination. © CSIRO

10th leaf stage. © CSIRO

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