Grasstree
Xanthorrhoea sp., Fam. Xanthorrhoeaceae
A single trunked plant with a clump of grass-like leaves at the crown, to 5m high. Xanthorrhoea are often very long-lived, some are estimated to be 350-450 years old.
| Weed Category: | |
| Weed: | No |
| Form or habit: | Grass or grass-like plant |
| Family: | Xanthorrhoeaceae |
| Leaf: | Leaves crowded in a terminal crown, narrow-linear, tapered, rhombic to cuneate. Margins with microscopic trichomes, rarely hairy, leaf base broad, sometimes thickened. |
| Flower conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Flower colour: |
White, Cream |
| Flower description: | Inflorescence cylindrical, spike-like, on a woody scape, white or cream flowers in spirally arranged clusters subtended by cluster bracts and surrounded by packing bracts that fill out the spaces between the flowers and form the surface of the spike. Flowers actinomorphic, 3-merous, bisexual and either fertile or aborted. Tepals 6, free, in 2 whorls; outer tepals papery or scarious; inner tepals membranous, apices exserted. Stamens 6, longer than tepals; filaments flattened; anthers dorsifixed, 2-locular, introrse, dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Septal nectaries exude copious nectar. Ovary superior, 3-locular; ovules several per loculus; style simple; stigma entire, sometimes grooved. |
| Fruit conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Fruit colour: |
Brown |
| Fruit: | |
| Fruit description: | Obtuse or pointed capsule. One or two seed per loculus, ovate, usually semi-matt black, rarely ovoid and shining. |
| Habitat: | Grassland, open forest, woodland |
| Distribution | Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. |
| Food source for: | |
| Toxicity: | No toxicity known |
| Origin: | Australia. |
| Notes: | Studies of species that develop tall trunks indicate that increase in trunk height is mostly slow, about 0.8-6 cm per year, but this varies depending on the species and on local growth conditions. |
| Information sources: | PlantNET (2022) Genus Xanthorrhoea. FloraOnline. |
