Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Synonyms Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Babiana angustifolia Sweet

Synonyms

Babiana disticha Ker Gawl. (misapplied)
Babiana plicata (Thunb.) Ker Gawl. (misapplied)
Babiana pulchra G.J. Lewis
Babiana stricta (Ait.) Ker Gawl. (misapplied)

Family

Iridaceae

Common Names

babiana, baboon flower, baboon lily, baboon-flower, upright babiana

Origin

This species is native to southern Africa (i.e. western Cape Province in South Africa).

Naturalised Distribution

This species is widely naturalised in the temperate regions of southern Australia (i.e. in south-western Western Australia and in some parts of Victoria). Naturalised populations of plants currently regarded as Babiana stricta in the south-eastern parts of South Australia and in the coastal districts of central and northern New South Wales are probably also baboon flower (Babiana angustifolia).

Notes

Baboon flower (Babiana angustifolia) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria, South Australia (i.e. as Babiana stricta) and Western Australia. It is widely cultivated as a garden plant in the temperate regions of Australia, and has spread from cultivation to form dense clumps along roadsides, in waste areas and in native bushland (e.g. eucalypt forests) and wetland areas.

This species is currently of most concern in Western Australia, where it is regarded as a serious weed in the Darling Ranges, the Avon Valley and the Swan Coastal Plain. In these regions it has invaded clay-based woodlands and wetlands, including remnant and threatened vegetation (e.g. a threatened coastal community in the Lambert Lane Nature Reserve and remnant native vegetation in the Kensington Bushland area in Victoria Park). It is also threatening one of the remaining natural populations of the critically endangered narrow-petalled featherflower (i.e. Verticordia plumosa var. pleiobotrya).