Cape York lilies are flowering in my garden now. The first summer rain, or spring watering wakes the tubers. Young tubers sprout leafs older ones flowers first. They grow in the wild further north from here. So far I have not found any seeds, though yesterday I noticed two turquoise striped bees hovering about but they buzzed off as I approached with the camera. I pollinated several flowers with a brush, I would like to see the seeds sprout and add a seed pod to my pic. According to info I found the plant mainly propagates from tubers, this mystifies me, it seams such an elaborate flower for rare seeds? I mean why wouldn’t it entice plenty of pollinators… why not produe many seeds? On the other hand I could understand that the pressure might not be the same on a plant that has more than one way to propagate… but still the flower is there …-? Possible the info comes mostly not from their natural environment.
Curcuma australasica is closely related to Turmeric, Curcuma longa, it also has a bright orange root, (of a slightly redder hue) they smell just the same and apparently this one is edible too. It was eaten cooked by the people of Cape York according to the internet… I tasted it and find it nice and very similar to Turmeric.
The flowers are long lasting also when cut. The actual flowers which are small and yellow, peeking out from among the purple petals, have a faint gingery fragrance. There is a little trigger organism inside them that makes the stigma and pollen parts descend when something enters the tunnel that leads to tiny bits of nectar. The flower itself tastes sweet. They are hardy and easy to grow.
