A friend of mine lives in central Westville, fairly close to the freeway and the Pavillion but has the good fortune of a house that is built near a river valley, which means that the land has not been developed. We went exploring downstream and found a clearing that is a world away from the Pav (see pics). We couldn’t hear any cars or see any buildings. The river is a thin stream at the moment but apparently rages after heavy rains. The river bed is covered in what I assume must be indigenous lilies. They are very fragrant (smell amazing), are white with a touch of pale yellow while in bloom and have just flowered – I caught the last completely white flowers. Does anyone know what these are? What is their proper name? And p.s, isn’t this is a great little spot in the middle of suburbia? It must support a load of animals. Take back the burbs!
What a great find! There are so few wild spaces left in our city.
mm, beautiful! is it the palmiet river?
I was browsing through your site and saw this post about these pretty lilies..then I was also looking up invasive plants in south africa on google which lead me to this site with a list of declared weeds. i googled some of the names and low and behold I saw the same lily as above on google images(declared south african weed)
here is the website. I’m sure they are the same plants= White ginger Lily (Heychium coronarium)
https://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/plants/weeds_and_invaders/herbaceous_plants.htm
Hi Ruth. thanks for the info, pity that something so beautiful is invasive. they look right at home there!
hi ruth,
definitely not indigenous. apparently from the himalayas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedychium_coronarium
On the list of no-nos!! Exotic, undesireables – but oh so beuatiful!