Blandfordia nobilis, commonly known as Christmas Bells

Blandfordia

Blandfordia is a genus of flowering plants, placed in the family Blandfordiaceae of the order Asparagales of the monocots. The genus is native to eastern Australia. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as Christmas Bells due to the shape of their flowers and the timing of their flowering...

, is a tufted perennial herb

Herbaceous plant

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 native to eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It grows on poor sandstone soils and swampy areas, between the towns of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Milton

Milton, New South Wales

Milton is a town in the City of Shoalhaven on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, not far from Ulladulla. It was founded in the middle of the 19th century...

 and Braidwood

Braidwood, New South Wales

Braidwood is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Palerang Shire. It is located on the busy Kings Highway linking Canberra to Batemans Bay on the coast. It is about 200 kilometres south west of Sydney and about 60 kilometres inland from the coast...

. Known as Gadigalbudyari in the Cadigal

Cadigal

The Cadigal, also spelled as Gadigal, are a group of Aboriginal Australians who originally inhabited the area that they called 'Cadi', part of which later became known as the Marrickville Local Government Area of Sydney. Cadigal territory lies south of Port Jackson and stretches from South Head to...

 language of the local Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

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The type specimen was collected from Port Jackson

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

 circa the year 1800. Blandfordia nobilis was first published in 1804 by James Edward Smith

James Edward Smith

Sir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...

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Description

Leaves up to 75 cm long. The leafless flower stalks growing directly from the ground are up to 80 cm long. Flowering occurs in late spring and summer. The flowers are yellow and red, around 4 cm long. In groups of 3 to 20 flowers. A three sided green seed pod forms later in summer, usually around 6 cm long.