Wahlenbergia gloriosa
Encyclopedia
Wahlenbergia gloriosa, or Royal Bluebell, is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n wildflower from the Campanulaceae
Campanulaceae
The family Campanulaceae , of the order Asterales, contains about 2000 species in 70 genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and rarely small trees, often with milky non-toxic sap...

 family. It grows in high rainfall areas in the Australian Alps
Australian Alps
The Australian Alps are the highest mountain ranges of mainland Australia. They are located in southeastern Australia and straddle the Australian Capital Territory, south-eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria...

, in environs ranging from shady roadside cuttings on Mount Hotham
Mount Hotham
Mount Hotham is a mountain in Victoria, Australia. It is home to Hotham Alpine Resort. The mountain is located approximately north east of Melbourne, from Sydney, and from Adelaide by road. Mt Hotham's summit rises to an altitude of above sea level...

 to full sun herbfield
Herbfield
Herbfields are plant communities dominated by herbaceous plants, especially forbs and grasses. They are found where climatic conditions do not allow large woody plants to grow, such as in subantarctic and alpine tundra environments...

s on the main range.

W. gloriosa has small dark green leaves in rosettes, to 2 cm. The flowers are a deep blue/purple colour, and are very eyecatching. The colour is not reproducible on a computer screen or normal film (being a shade of violet
Violet (color)
As the name of a color, violet is synonymous with a bluish purple, when the word "purple" is used in the common English language sense of any color between blue and red, not including either blue or red...

, rather than purple). It grows as a suckering herb. The flower is the floral emblem of the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

.

Wahlenbergias are generally easily propagated by division or root cutting.

External links

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