Patersonia occidentalis

Patersonia occidentalis, commonly known as purple flag or long purple flag,[1] is a perennial herbaceous plant that is endemic to Western Australia.[2] The Noongar name for the plant is komma.[3]

Patersonia occidentalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Iridaceae
Genus:	Patersonia
Species:	P. occidentalis
Binomial name
Patersonia occidentalis R.Br.

The tufted rhizomatous plant typically grows to a height of 0.75 to 1.5 metres (2.5 to 4.9 ft)[2] and has a width of less than 0.5 metres (1.6 ft).[1] It blooms between August and December producing purple flowers.[2]

Found amongst granite outcrops, in winter wet areas and on dunes from the Mid West, Peel, Wheatbelt, South West, Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in gravelly, sandy or loamy soils over granite, limestone or ironstone.[2]

Cultivated in gardens the species is frost tolerant and able to cope in a dry position.[4]

It was first described by the botanist Robert Brown in 1810 in his work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae. Synonyms for the species include Genosiris occidentalis described by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1869 in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae and Patersonia bicolor by George Bentham in 1873 in Flora Australiensis.[5]