Dianella ensifolia ("Kikyoran")

Japanese name: キキョウラン （桔梗蘭）
Scientific name: Dianella ensifolia

[Overview]
An evergreen perennial found mainly on sunny coastal cliffs.
The rhizome is thick, with nodes, and covered with old leaf sheaths.
The leaves gather at the base of the plant and are alternate in 2 rows; they are linear, 40–60 cm long and 1.5–2 cm wide, with entire margins, leathery, thick and glossy.
The leaf bases form folded sheaths that overlap one another.
In the tropics it flowers all year round.
A flower stem 0.5–1 m tall bears small leaves and a panicle at the tip with sparsely arranged flowers.
The flowers are blue to bluish purple, six-petaled, facing sideways to downward, with petals opening flat and curving back slightly.
There are 6 stamens, bent like a knee in the upper half of the filament, with thickened tips.
The fruit is spherical, about 1 cm across, ripening to bluish purple; the seeds are black and glossy.

[Uses]
It is poisonous, but is used medicinally.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by division.
It can overwinter outdoors in regions south of the Kanto region where there is no heavy frost.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained, well-ventilated place.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
Fertilizer can be kept to a minimum; if fertilizer is applied at planting, none is particularly necessary, but for potted plants apply a small amount in spring or autumn, watching the plant's condition.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

[Notes]
The name compares the plant's form to an orchid and the flower color to the balloon flower (kikyo).

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