94 



CHAPTER XL 



SOME CURIOUS FOREST PLANTS. 



The forested regions of Western Australia contain a number of strange growths 

 to which it is rather difficult to apply the term "tree," if the word is to carry its 

 popular meaning. These growths sometimes have branches, but they are quite 

 unlike the branches of ordinary trees; their outer covering cannot correctly be 

 described as bark, and their trunks yield no timber. The most prominent, as well 

 as the most common, of these odd-looking members of the forest community are 

 the "blackboy" (Xanthorrhoea Preissii), the "grass-tree" {Kingia Australis), 

 and the "Zamia" palm (Macrozamia Fraseri) . It is certain, according to the 

 evidence adduced by botanists and geologists who have studied the subject, that 

 the three plants named nourished in Western Australia, long before it contained 

 the eucalypt trees, as Ave know them now. How they managed to survive through 

 the long ages of forest development from lower to higher forms, and whether they 

 are precisely the same in size, formation, and qualities as they were in that far- 

 back past, are questions we cannot answer to-day with absolute certainty. All we 

 can assert with conlidence is that the black-boy, the grass-tree, and the zamia grew 

 in Western xVustralia before the eucalypts had reached the stage at which we now r 

 find them. 



Blac~kboy. — This plant is a familiar object in the South-Western portions of 

 the State, and once seen is always remembered. The majority of those met with 

 in the bush average about seven to eight feet in height, but they may be met with 

 of all heights up to 15 feet. The bole or barrel may range in diameter from five or 

 six inches up to about a foot. The outside portion of the bole is composed of 

 layers of hardened masses of the persistent bases of old leaves. This outer layer 

 is heavily impregnated with a gum or resin which is highly inflammable; when fire 

 sweeps through the bush, the blackboy is readily attacked, with the result that the 

 trunks of these trees are always found in a blackened condition. The central core 

 is of fibrous material which is sometimes of a hardness that would almost permit 

 of its being termed "wood." From this core under proper treatment sugar may 

 be obtained, as well as a number of chemicals of commercial value. The gum 

 or resin of blackboy is used for several trade purposes, but mainly in the manu- 

 facture of varnish. In some parts of South Australia blackboy grows freely, and 

 is there known as yacca or "grass-tree." The South Australian variety is very 

 similar to that of Western Australia. 



Grass-tree. — The grass-tree is not quite so common in the West Australian 

 forests as the blackboy, but it is quite as distinctive. Botanists class it as well 

 as the blackboy in the lily family. It is found only in Western Australia. In 

 appearance it is very like blackboy, but the properties of the two trees and their 

 commercial possibilities are quite dissimilar. The grass-tree may be readily dis- 

 tinguished from the blackboy by the flowering stalk. In the grass-tree the flowers 

 and seeds are borne on short stalks about a foot long, many of which stand out 

 from the centre of every plant like drum sticks. The blackboy, on the other hand, 

 has one long flowering stalk only, of quite a different type, arising from each mass 

 of leaves. Like the blackboy it is found scattered over a considerable portion of 

 the South-West, especially between the Darling Range and the sea, and in the karri 

 country. It reaches a height of from 6 to 25 feet, and the bole has an average 



