Author: |
Stephan F.L. Endlicher, 1846 |
Family: |
XANTHORRHOEACEAE* |
Origin: |
South-Western
Australia |
Soil: |
Mix |
Water:
|
Medium |
Sun: |
Medium
- Maximum |
Thickness: |
28
Centimetres |
Height: |
5
Meters |
Flower:
|
White
- Crème Colour |
Propagate: |
Seeds** |
Names:
|
Grasstree,
Western Black Boy, Balga Blackboy |
Synonyms: |
Xanthorrhoea pecoris, F.Muell.
Xanthorrhoea reflexa, D.A.Herb. |
This member of the Xanthorrhoeaceae
family was described by Stephan
Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher in 1846. It is found around Perth
in the south-western
corner of Australia, growing in a well drained soil with
some water and some to lots of sun. The stem or stems will very
slowly grow up to five meters in height and 25 to 30 centimetres in
diameter. The three meter long spear of a flower is white to crème colour.
The genera name from the Greek
xanthos; 'yellow' and rheo; 'to flow', referring to
the yellow gum that can be extracted. The species name after Johann
August Ludwig Preiss, 1811-1883, a German-born British botanist and
zoologist.
**In the wild, the seeds
will germinate after a bushfire. It is not the heat, but the smoke
which triggers them. More exact: The butenolide -
3-methyl-2H-furo[2,3-C]pyran-2-one - in smoke induces germination.
This effect can be made by either smoking the seeds or soak them in
water with smoked paper which can be bought or simply smoke some
paper or cloth your self.
*)Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016 is
Xanthorrhoeaceae
now part of
the Asphodelaceae.
|