Thoughts.com Blogs - Blackboy Grass Tree

On a sunny Sunday morning 29th October 2006, the three of us went to see the blooming blackboy grass trees in Brisbane Ranges National Park, Victoria, Australia. It was not very far from a little town called Anakie, about 50 km southwest of Melbourne. All along the street on the side of the National Park we witnessed one real wonder of nature. Thousands of blackboy grass trees were proudly showing their tall spiky flowers towering above the green grassy head.

The sight was some kind of weird, out of this world and at the same time was just breath taking. While anything else in that place did not show any significant life due to the fire tragedy back in January, the blackboy grass trees were thriving on the ground that was still covered by a thin layer of white ash. The heat of the fire and the ash was a very suitable condition for these plants to thrive. From the black burnt trunk, the growth spurt starts few months after the fire. The green long grass-like leaves started to grow form the top of the trunk, followed by a long spiky flower. The seeds that fell and remained in the soil before the fire also start to germinate.

What is a Grass Tree?

The common blackboy grass trees that grow around Victoria are: Xanthorrhoea Australis and Xanthorrhoea Minor. According to the history, the name “black boy” was given due to the similar look between a charred black trunk of the grass tree with a long spiky flower and a native indigenous boy holding an upright spear.

Xanthorrhoea is a native Australian plant. The indigenous common name is Balga grass. There are 28 different known species. Some of the species grow the trunk above the ground, but some have the trunk grow below the ground. Many are single trunk but some also have a branch or two. They can grow up to 4 metres high. Grow well in coastal area, wet or dry forests. The growth rate is very slow, only about 1 – 2 cm per year. Although the plant it self grow very slow, the flower spike grow very fast, about 2 – 3 cm per day and it can reach up to 3 metres tall. It is known that blackboys can grow up to 600 years.

For the indigenous Australians, grass trees are a staple plant providing food, drink, fibre and materials for making tools. Pieces of dry flower stalk are used for making fire with a drilling stick. The leaves collected from the base of the trunk produce a hard resin which is for waterproofing bark canoes and water carrying vessels.

The tiny individual flowers grow all around and along the long spiky stem and the colour is whitish cream. The indigenous people used to soak the flower in water to make a sweet drink because it is loaded with nectar. From these tiny flowers will develop little fruits contain seeds.

How amazing it is that some plants are able to adapt an extreme condition of the place where they grow. It is said that quite a few of Australian native plants grow even better after a fire tragedy, and certainly the blackboy grass tree is one of them. We were very lucky that we decided to see them that day.......