Thysanotus spiniger is a species of flowering plant in the Asparagaceae family, and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a perennial herb with a short, thick rhizome, hairy linear leaves at first, and umbels of one or two purple flowers with linear to lance-shaped sepals, elliptic fringed petals and six stamens with equal anthers.
Description Thysanotus spiniger is a perennial herb with a short, thick rhizome and fibrous roots, the rhizome long and in diameter. It has linear leaves up to long, and that wither before flowering. The flowers are borne on a stiff, leafless, branched, ridged flowering stem up to long with umbels of one or two flowers, each on a pedicel long. The perianth segments are about long, the sepals linear to lance-shaped, about wide, and the petals elliptic, wide, with a fringe long. There are six stamens, the anthers about long and the style is curved, about long. Flowering occurs from August to November or January.
Taxonomy Thysanotus spiniger was first formally described in 1960 by Norman Henry Brittan in the Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia from specimens he collected near the Hill River in 1952. The specific epithet (spiniger) means 'thorn-bearing', referring to the branches.
Distribution and habitat This species of Thysanotus grows in sandplain vegetation in eucalypt woodland, usually in sandy soils, from south of Dongara to the Moore River in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status Thysanotus spiniger is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
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