• Hardy perennial lily from South Africa, grows in thick clumps. Also called Lily of the Nile.
• Leaves are thick, succulent, dark glossy green and strap-like, to 50cm long. There is a miniature or dwarf variety, also rather weedy.
• Large, rounded heads of massed tubular flowers, blue or white, on a strong thick stem, to 1.2m tall, in summer.
• Numerous small black shiny seeds are produced in a 5cm three-sided capsule, end of summer into autumn.
• Roots are fleshy, crowded, strong and tenacious.

The underground structure forms large continually extending clumps, and seed may wash down waterways. This plant is also frequently dumped on bushland edges.

Spreads rapidly down drainage lines, but will also grow in dry areas. Dense clumping roots displace all other vegetation.

Throughout the Blue Mountains.

Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos species) 50cm-2m; Spiny-headed Mat Rush (Lomandra longifolia) to 1m; Flax Lilies (Dianella species) to 60cm.

Cut the flower heads before the seeds form. Dig out clumps with a mattock. Try to get most of the roots. Does not respond well to herbicide.