Gymea: Looking for lilies

 I went to Gymea looking for Gymea Lilies. That's Doryanthes excelsa, the rather spectacular Sydney area flower that the southern Sydney suburb takes its name after. 'Gymea Lily' is said to be an approximation of the Eora word for the plant.

It's a big red flower on a spike up to 6m high, and the spear shaped leaves are about 1m long. It's indeed quite a plant.

 So where were they all? I emerged from the station to find a very busy street full of interesting shops, inviting cafes, and a supplements megastore. The supplements had obviously worked wonders on the big black four wheel drives parked outside, They were positively bulging with......something.

I walked the nearby streets for a while, expecting to find enormous lilies in every garden. No such luck. Maybe it's the wrong time of the year? I figured I'd recognise them anyway, flowering or not, and they weren't there. Get your act together, Gymea.

Then, back at the station, about to board my train home, I spotted it. Possibly the only one in the whole suburb. Coyly hiding away its full charms, it was impressive nonetheless.

For more pictures of the thing in full flight, take a look at https://www.google.com.au/search?q=gymea+lily+images&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=Cb6BU_qDAsjC8gebuoHwDQ

For one that looks awfully like my Gymea station example, take a look at the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doryanthes_excelsa