The South Aitstralian Naturalist. 



71 



In the eastern States they are usually referred to as grass 

 trees, probably because the early settlers thought that the tuft 

 of rush-like leaves crowning the top of the thick stem was suit- 

 able fodder for stock. But horses, sheep, and cattle will not 

 touch this wiry kind of vegetation. Even goats, those hardy 

 creatures whose powers of digestion are the occasion of many 

 jokes among bush people, are said to leave the grass trees un- 

 touched. In South Australia the plant is usually called a 

 yacca; in Western Australia it is known as a blackboy. 



The Western Australian name was probably given because 

 of the black appearance the trunks of these plants present after 

 thev have been charred bv a bush fire. 



X '\ \\ '.' v y 



A 



A. A single flower (much enlarged) taken from a flowering spike of the 

 Grass Tree; (s) sepals; (p) petals; (g) tip of pistil; (st) stamens. 

 B. Pistil (enlarged), with transverse section of ovarv underneath. 



The botanist has invented a name much longer than any of 

 these three, to give to this strange group of trees. This\in- 

 familiar name (Xan-thor-rhoea, pronounced Xan '-thor-re '-a. Zan- 

 thos means "yellow," and rheo "I flow.") is made up of two 

 words borrowed from the Greek language, and they refer to 

 the yellow gum or resin that flows from the trunk of the tree. 



In South Australia our most common grass tree has a trunk 

 usually bare of leaves for several feet above the ground level. 

 When the trunk is sawn across, the section shows a soft core 

 enclosed in a hard shell. This shell is made up of the bases of 

 old leaves packed closely together like tiles, and cemented with 

 the gum or resin exuded from the trunk. At the top of the 

 stem is the crown of leaves, the younger leaves being green and 



