Blandfordia

Genus of flowering plants
the former suburb of Canberra, Australia

Blandfordia, commonly known as Christmas bells, is a genus of four species of flowering plants native to eastern Australia. Christmas bells are tufted, perennial herbs with narrow, linear leaves and up to twenty large, drooping, cylindrical or bell shaped flowers.

Plants in the genus Blandfordia are tufted, perennial herbaceous monocots with fleshy, fibrous or tuber like roots from a corm. The leaves are narrow linear, usually crowded in two ranks from the base of the flowering stem. Up to twenty flowers are arranged near the top of the flowering stem that has small, leaf like bracts. The flowers are usually red with yellow lobes. The sepals and petals are fused to form a tube shaped, cylindrical or bell shaped flower with six lobes about one fifth the length of the tube. There are six stamens fused to the inside wall of the flower tube and the style is linear. Flowering occurs in spring or summer and is followed by the fruit which is a capsule, tapered at both ends and containing a large number of hairy brown seeds.

Two of the four species of Blandfordia are restricted to New South Wales, a third also occurs in Queensland, and the fourth only occurs in Tasmania. Christmas bells usually grow in heathlands, especially waterlogged sites and mostly in coastal or near coastal areas although some populations occur on the tablelands.

The large, distinctive flowers and long vase life of Blandfordia suggest good commercial potential for the cut flower trade and a small group of producers cater to the domestic and export markets. It is a protected species and in the past over collecting has caused localised extinction and damage to the habitat of the species.