Unusual flowers - Gymea Lily by Frances

Image copyright 2013 Frances Brown

Gymea Lily (Doryanthes excelsa) is a special Australian wildflower that only occurs naturally in the coastal region near Sydney. 

It has huge flower clusters.  This cluster was over half a metre in length.  Usually the clusters are on stems 3 - 5 metres high (and difficult to photograph) however, this one was leaning over due to the weight of the flowers, so I could get up close.  Each individual flower is about 10cm across when it opens. The excellent flowering is probably due to all the rain we had in Sydney a month or two ago.