Family: Xanthorrhoeaceae
Plant: A tufted plant with trunk up to about 1m high and flowering spikes up to a further 1.5m high.
Flowers: Cream to white, 6 tepals with dark brown bracts. The inflorescence is a spike 1.5m long and 30mm diameter that is shorter than or equal to the length of the stem.
Flowering: November-April.
Fruit: Shiny, brown, hard capsule embedded in spike.
Leaves: Dull blue-green, basal, tufted, strap-like 1-1.5m long and 5-8mm wide with a somewhat flattened quadrangular cross-section.
Habitat: Both wet- and dry-sclerophyll forest, usually in sheltered sites.
Features: Trunk, flower spike as long as stem. Inflorescence usually greater than 90cm long.
Name:
Xanthorrhoea
From Greek xanthos = yellow and rheo = flow (referring to its resin).
arborea From Latin arbor = tree (referring to it having a tree-like trunk).
Type |
Herb |
|
Flowers |
Form |
Cylindrical, Spike |
|
Colour(s) |
White, Cream |
|
Petal/Sepal No. |
Many |
|
Flowering Month |
1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12 |
Fruit |
Type |
Capsule |
|
Colour |
Brown |
|
Other Features |
Hard |
Leaves |
Arrangement |
Basal, Tufted |
|
Type |
Simple |
|
Shape |
Linear, Strap-like |
|
Length |
Very long |
|
Margins |
Entire |
|
Attachment |
Unstalked |
|
Other Features |
- |
Bark |
- |
|
Habitat |
Wet sclerophyll forest, Dry sclerophyll |
|
|
forest |