Aristea ecklonii (common names: blue flies, blue stars, blue-eyed iris, blue corn-lilyFloridata entry) is a plant species in the Iridaceae, first described in 1866. It is native to central and southern Africa from South Africa north to Cameroon and Tanzania.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant FamiliesLebrun J.-P. & Stork, A.L. (1995). Énumération des Plants à Fleurs D'Afrique Tropicale 3: 1–341. Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève.Goldblatt, P. (1996). Iridaceae. Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1–89.Geerinck, D (2005). Flore d'Afrique Centrale (Zaïre - Rwanda - Burundi) Iridaceae: 1–102. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, Meise.Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14.: i–vi, 1–1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria. The plant is an evergreen perennial with small, blue flowers, growing in clumps with upright, grass-like leaves 15–18 in (38–46 cm) in height.
It is an invasive species in high mountain forests of Sri Lanka near Nuwara Eliya and Horton Plains,Milan Lu, "A growing threat" , Ceylon Today, 01.11.2011. Accessed 19.6.2016.Ranwala S., Marambe B.*, Wijesundara S., Silva P., Weerakoon D., Atapattu N., Gunawardena J., Manawadu L. and Gamage G. "Post-entry risk assessment of invasive alien flora of Sri Lanka – present status, gap analysis, and the most troublesome alien invaders", Pakistan Journal of Weed Science 10/2012; 18:863–871. in New Zealand where it is listed as a pest species on the NPPA banned list, and also Australia.Australian Rainforest Conservation Society. "Blue Stars, Aristea ecklonii – a potentially disastrous weed found at Springbrook". Retrieved 2016-06-20.
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