Diplarrena (known once as Diplarrhena) is a genus in the Iridaceae family endemic to Australia. It has two species that are showy and excellent for cultivation. Both grow from a rhizome into clumps of fans of stiff iris like leaves which are up to 30 cm tall but not noticeable amongst the long grass and bushland in which they grow until they flower. The flowers come on a fine but strong stem 30 to 45 cm above the leaves and stand out like small white flags. The individual flowers are up to 5 cm across and last a week or more with a succession of flowers making a display of 6 to 8 weeks.
To sow from seeds, treat with KNO3 (potassium nitrate) and then sow. This treatment worked well for John Conran.
Diplarrena latifolia (syn. Diplarrena moraea var. latifolia) is endemic to Tasmania and has a more sub-Alpine habitat than the other species and has white flowers with purple and yellow markings. Photo by Rob Hamilton taken at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart.
Diplarrena moraea from Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales has white, white and yellow, or sometimes white with yellow and some purple markings honey-scented flowers. It grows en masse at times but is often seen as single plants on the roadside in rural areas. Photos by Rob Hamilton of the flower, the plant, and a mass on a grassy bank above the home of Rob Hamilton in Southern Tasmania.
