Laxmannia sessilifloraCommon name: Nodding Lily

Meaning of name: Laxmannia honours Erik Laxmann (1737 – 1796), a pastor in Siberia who wrote on Siberian botany and sent specimens to Linnaeus’s herbarium. Sessiliflora is from the Latin words sessilis, meaning fit for sitting on, in botanical terms it means a flower or leaf growing direct from the stem without a stalk, and flos or floris, meaning flower.

Distribution: Occurs from Kalbarri to the Lort River, west of Albany.

Description: Erect slender stems to 20 centimetres tall. Small white flowers are held at the end of the stems from May to July.

References: Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings, a Glossary. FA Sharr. 1996.
Flora of the Perth Region. NG Marchant, JR Wheeler, BL Rye, EM Bennett, NS Lander, TD Macfarlane. 1987.