Apodolirion lanceolatum flower

Apodolirion lanceolatum produces a solitary flower up to 3,5 cm tall when no leaf is present, i.e. the plant is hysteranthous. Hysteranthy means that the leaf or leaves emerge after the flower or flowers have opened. This happens in certain bulbous species that flower when the plant is dormant and leafless during the dry season. Synanthous plants flower when their leaves are present.

The radially symmetrical (actinomorphic) A. lanceolatum flower is white and funnel-shaped, its obovate tepals acutely pointed at their tips, fused at the base.  Flower diameter is about 5 cm.

The six erect stamens are included in the corolla, arranged in two whorls. Their anthers are linear, the pollen cream or yellow. Blooming happens in the hot midsummer to late summer. The flowers are sweetly fragrant, particularly during the middle of the day.

The fruit is an indehiscent, club-shaped, white berry up to 4,5 cm long (Duncan, et al, 2016; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).