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Xanthorrhoea (Greek, yellow flow, referring to the resin which exudes from the trunks). Liliaceae. Persistent perennials with a thick woody caudex, adapted to greenhouse culture and which have been tried out-of-doors in the extreme South.
Caudex very short to arborescent: lvs. in a dense tuft at the top of caudex, long-linear, brittle, spreading or recurved: scape or peduncle terminal, often several feet long, terminating in a dense cylindrical spike: fls. greenish, numerous, sessile; perianth persistent, segms. 6, 3 outer glume-like, erect, concave or almost hood-shaped at the top, 3 inner much thinner, erect with the outer but more or less protruded beyond them; stamens 6; ovary sessile, 3-celled: caps. protruding from the perianth, ovoid or acuminate, 3-valved, hard, brown and shining.—About 14 species, Austral.
The "grass trees," "grass gums," or "black boys," form a conspicuous feature of the Australian landscape. These picturesque desert plants are well worth trial in the warmer and more arid regions of the United States. The trunk varies from almost nothing in some species to 15 feet in the case of aged specimens of X. Preissii. The tall and palm-like trunks are thickly covered with the bases of the old dead leaves, which are cemented together by the black or yellow resinous gum that flows freely from the stems. In Australia the trunks are often charred and discolored by bush fires. The following species have been offered in southern Florida and southern California, but are practically unknown to cultivation in this country. All the species are long-lived perennials native to dry and rocky places. They are said to thrive in a compost of peat and loam and to be propagated by offsets. X. Preissii seems to be the most desirable species.
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