Tiny Star
Perspective, with Boot Toe
Ellura
Thread Iris
Bulbs
 
                      
Thread Iris (Moraea setifolia)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida)
Order: Asparagus (Asparagales)
Family: Iris (Iridaceae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Thread Iris (Moraea setifolia)
This Photo:     Flowering
Other names: Paper Glasstulp or Two-leaved Cape Tulip

Thank you Alan Dandie (Alan_Dandie) & Karen Weaving for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Invasive throughout the region. Difficult to eradicate due to their thin leaf.
Wombats like the bulbs and plough the soil searching for the them. This is not natural behaviour for them and is very destructive to the soil crust and natural order of things.
Competes with native grasses.
Has a single pale purple flower and two grass-like leaves (often one dries early leaving only one leaf).
While it looks nothing like it many people think it's nut grass. Probably because the bulbs are like nuts and the few leaves are very grass like.
The flower is a dead give away it's not grass.
Kangaroos eat the dried leaves in summer. Possibly because other food is more scarce; or because it's weaker & easier to chew once it's died. It's leaves are incredibly strong & thin. When trying to pull out other weeds if you accidentally grab a Thread Iris leaf as well, you'll have no chance of getting either out.
The green leaf is toxic to stock. Consumption of 1kg of green leaves will kill a cow within 24 hours. Wombats don't seem to be able to digest it very easily, so fill up on it and can starve to death if native grass food sources are not available.

Copyright © 2012-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 13-Sep-2012
This species is classed as If (Foreign Introduction)