#826-836 - Xanthorrheaceae, Dasypogonaceae, and former Hemerocallidaceae
#826 - Caesia micrantha - Pale Grass Lily
Native to the SW of Australia. A rhizomatous and tuberous, tufted perennial herb, up to 60cm tall. The flowers white, blue or purple, and appear in spring. Grows happily on a variety of soils from sand to granite, and on granite outcrops and winter-wet flats.
Named after Federigo Cesi (1585 - 1630), an Italian naturalist said to have been the first to discover the spores of ferns
A member of the Xanthorrhoeaceae family - which will be quite surprising when we get to the most famous members of that family, in a couple of posts.
Queens Park, Perth
#827 - Dianella sp. - Blue Flax Lily
An attractive plant with colourful flowers and dark blue berries.
Named after the Roman goddess of hunting, Diana. Another in the Xanthorrhoeaceae - although it was formerly placed in the family Hemerocallidaceae. When the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III system was introduced in 2009, Hemerocallidaceae was combined with two other families to form the Xanthorrhoeaceae.
There’s 20 to 40 species - assuming they even stay in this genus - found from Japan to India to New Zealand, although many are Australian.
The roots were pounded and roasted on hot rocks, and fruit eaten raw.
Canning Vale, Perth
#828 - Tricoryne elatior - Yellow Rush-Lily
AKA. Yellow Autumn Lily, Star Lily, and so on.
Another from the Xanthorrhoeaceae. The binomial comes from the Greek words treis and costula, meaning three small ribs - the nut is 3-ribbed. Elatior is a Latin word meaning taller.
The twiggy stems are up to 50 centimeters long and held erect or, more usually, lie on the ground. Flowers appear from September to February.
Hammond Park, Perth
#829 - Xanthorrhoea preissii - Balga - Grasstree
Also known as blackboys, but for obvious reasons that name is falling into disuse.
Grasstrees are the most famous of the Xanthorrhoeaceae, and a major feature of bushland around Perth, and widely used in landscaping. The trunk may grow over 3 metres tall, usually blackened by repeated bushfire. The remains of the flammable leaves and the annual regrowth produce banding, allowing the age of the plant to be determined, and giving a record of previous fires. As they get older, the trunk may split into multiple branches.
The flowerspikes appear between June and December, and can be 2.5m tall, and especially profuse after fires. Found throughout coastal plains, near watercourses, and inland forest regions, in a range extending from Geraldton to Albany and into the Avon Wheatbelt. The species had high importance to the Noongar people, who named it Balga, and used the gum it produces, the flowerspike for fish spears, and the Bardi grub as a source of food.
Coolongup, Perth
#830 - Xanthorrhea gracilis - Slender Grasstree
Surrounded by the larger X. preissi, a small and delicate grasstree with a much smaller flowerspike on a very long stem.
Sullivan Rock, east of Jarrahdale.
#831 - Xanthorrhoea brunonis - Brown’s Grasstree
Xanthorrhoea is from the Greek words xanthos, meaning yellow, and rheo, meaning to flow, referring to the gum which flows from the stem. Which isn’t particularly relevant with this species, since it doesn’t grow a trunk. Instead, multiple crowns grow at ground level. Brunonis honours Robert Brown (1773 - 1858), a naturalist on Flinders’ expedition to what the explorer named Australia.
Another difference between this and young Balgas (X. preissi) is the flowerspike, which has a long section devoid of flowers.
Wellard, Perth
#832 - Kingia australis - Bullanock
Despite appearances, this is NOT a Grasstree. Kingia is in the Dasypogonaceae family, whereas Xanthorrhoea is in the Xanthorrhoeaceae. But apart from the flowers, the two genera are so similar that for a long time they were thought to be female Grasstrees.
Kingia flowers are borne on up to 100 curved stalks sprouting around the crown.The pseudotrunk - a mass of leaf bases - grows extremely slowly, increasing in height by about 1½ centimetres per year. It can live for centuries, however, so 400 year old plants with a height of six metres are not unusual.
The older plants are very distinctive - none of the grass trees are that tall or slender around here. I see them on the floodplains closer to the Darling escarpment, myself - this one was growing right at the southern end of the Tonkin Freeway in Byford.
#833 - Dasypogon sp. - Drumsticks
The flower is anyway. Ignore the grasshopper.
Dasypogon, also known as Pineapple Bush, is a genus of four West Australian endemics, each with a crown of long straplike leaves, and long flower stalks ending in a sphere of small flowers. Some of the plants stay close to the ground, but some species from long trunks with the crown of leaves at the top. Up to 3m tall.
Piara waters, Perth
#834 - Calectasia narragara - Blue Tinsel Lily - Star of Bethlehem
Another Dasypogonaceae, and another WA endemic. Common within its range apparently, but I’ve only seen it the once.
Calectasia comes from the Greek calos and ectasia, meaning ‘beautiful and stretching out’. Narragara is a composite Nyoongar Aboriginal name for star, from the common name ‘Star of Bethlehem’.
The outer part of the petals are metallic blue with bronze margins and form a papery, star pattern which fades to white with age. In the center six yellow stamens form a tube which turns orange-red with age - although the stamens have long since fallen off this one. The petals are retained for some time.
Hammond Park, Perth
#835 - Arnocrinum preissii - Wool Lily
Arnocrinum - Greek arnos + crinon meaning ‘lamb lily’, referring to the dense wool at the base of the stems. The flowerheads are pretty fluffy too. The other half of the binomial honours botantist Johann August Ludwig Preiss (1811 - 1883) who collected over 2700 species in Western Australia from 1839 to 1841.
Hammond Park, Perth
#836 - Corynotheca micrantha - Sand Lily
The main feature of this former Hemerocallidaceae are the leafless stems, dividing into two at regular intervals and 180-degree angles, until the plant is a tangle of wiry stems.
The name is from the Greek again, describing the fruit and the flowers - ‘Club-box + small anthers’.
Most common in the SW, but also found across the inland deserts. Evidently the leaflessness serves it well in arid climates. As you might have guessed from the common name, thrives in pure sand soils as well.
Wellard, Perth.
Native to the SW of Australia. A rhizomatous and tuberous, tufted perennial herb, up to 60cm tall. The flowers white, blue or purple, and appear in spring. Grows happily on a variety of soils from sand to granite, and on granite outcrops and winter-wet flats.
Named after Federigo Cesi (1585 - 1630), an Italian naturalist said to have been the first to discover the spores of ferns
A member of the Xanthorrhoeaceae family - which will be quite surprising when we get to the most famous members of that family, in a couple of posts.
Queens Park, Perth
#827 - Dianella sp. - Blue Flax Lily
An attractive plant with colourful flowers and dark blue berries.
Named after the Roman goddess of hunting, Diana. Another in the Xanthorrhoeaceae - although it was formerly placed in the family Hemerocallidaceae. When the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III system was introduced in 2009, Hemerocallidaceae was combined with two other families to form the Xanthorrhoeaceae.
There’s 20 to 40 species - assuming they even stay in this genus - found from Japan to India to New Zealand, although many are Australian.
The roots were pounded and roasted on hot rocks, and fruit eaten raw.
Canning Vale, Perth
#828 - Tricoryne elatior - Yellow Rush-Lily
AKA. Yellow Autumn Lily, Star Lily, and so on.
Another from the Xanthorrhoeaceae. The binomial comes from the Greek words treis and costula, meaning three small ribs - the nut is 3-ribbed. Elatior is a Latin word meaning taller.
The twiggy stems are up to 50 centimeters long and held erect or, more usually, lie on the ground. Flowers appear from September to February.
Hammond Park, Perth
#829 - Xanthorrhoea preissii - Balga - Grasstree
Also known as blackboys, but for obvious reasons that name is falling into disuse.
Grasstrees are the most famous of the Xanthorrhoeaceae, and a major feature of bushland around Perth, and widely used in landscaping. The trunk may grow over 3 metres tall, usually blackened by repeated bushfire. The remains of the flammable leaves and the annual regrowth produce banding, allowing the age of the plant to be determined, and giving a record of previous fires. As they get older, the trunk may split into multiple branches.
The flowerspikes appear between June and December, and can be 2.5m tall, and especially profuse after fires. Found throughout coastal plains, near watercourses, and inland forest regions, in a range extending from Geraldton to Albany and into the Avon Wheatbelt. The species had high importance to the Noongar people, who named it Balga, and used the gum it produces, the flowerspike for fish spears, and the Bardi grub as a source of food.
Coolongup, Perth
#830 - Xanthorrhea gracilis - Slender Grasstree
Surrounded by the larger X. preissi, a small and delicate grasstree with a much smaller flowerspike on a very long stem.
Sullivan Rock, east of Jarrahdale.
#831 - Xanthorrhoea brunonis - Brown’s Grasstree
Xanthorrhoea is from the Greek words xanthos, meaning yellow, and rheo, meaning to flow, referring to the gum which flows from the stem. Which isn’t particularly relevant with this species, since it doesn’t grow a trunk. Instead, multiple crowns grow at ground level. Brunonis honours Robert Brown (1773 - 1858), a naturalist on Flinders’ expedition to what the explorer named Australia.
Another difference between this and young Balgas (X. preissi) is the flowerspike, which has a long section devoid of flowers.
Wellard, Perth
#832 - Kingia australis - Bullanock
Despite appearances, this is NOT a Grasstree. Kingia is in the Dasypogonaceae family, whereas Xanthorrhoea is in the Xanthorrhoeaceae. But apart from the flowers, the two genera are so similar that for a long time they were thought to be female Grasstrees.
Kingia flowers are borne on up to 100 curved stalks sprouting around the crown.The pseudotrunk - a mass of leaf bases - grows extremely slowly, increasing in height by about 1½ centimetres per year. It can live for centuries, however, so 400 year old plants with a height of six metres are not unusual.
The older plants are very distinctive - none of the grass trees are that tall or slender around here. I see them on the floodplains closer to the Darling escarpment, myself - this one was growing right at the southern end of the Tonkin Freeway in Byford.
#833 - Dasypogon sp. - Drumsticks
The flower is anyway. Ignore the grasshopper.
Dasypogon, also known as Pineapple Bush, is a genus of four West Australian endemics, each with a crown of long straplike leaves, and long flower stalks ending in a sphere of small flowers. Some of the plants stay close to the ground, but some species from long trunks with the crown of leaves at the top. Up to 3m tall.
Piara waters, Perth
#834 - Calectasia narragara - Blue Tinsel Lily - Star of Bethlehem
Another Dasypogonaceae, and another WA endemic. Common within its range apparently, but I’ve only seen it the once.
Calectasia comes from the Greek calos and ectasia, meaning ‘beautiful and stretching out’. Narragara is a composite Nyoongar Aboriginal name for star, from the common name ‘Star of Bethlehem’.
The outer part of the petals are metallic blue with bronze margins and form a papery, star pattern which fades to white with age. In the center six yellow stamens form a tube which turns orange-red with age - although the stamens have long since fallen off this one. The petals are retained for some time.
Hammond Park, Perth
#835 - Arnocrinum preissii - Wool Lily
Arnocrinum - Greek arnos + crinon meaning ‘lamb lily’, referring to the dense wool at the base of the stems. The flowerheads are pretty fluffy too. The other half of the binomial honours botantist Johann August Ludwig Preiss (1811 - 1883) who collected over 2700 species in Western Australia from 1839 to 1841.
Hammond Park, Perth
#836 - Corynotheca micrantha - Sand Lily
The main feature of this former Hemerocallidaceae are the leafless stems, dividing into two at regular intervals and 180-degree angles, until the plant is a tangle of wiry stems.
The name is from the Greek again, describing the fruit and the flowers - ‘Club-box + small anthers’.
Most common in the SW, but also found across the inland deserts. Evidently the leaflessness serves it well in arid climates. As you might have guessed from the common name, thrives in pure sand soils as well.
Wellard, Perth.