Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Xanthorrhoea latifolia subsp. latifolia

Common name

A grass-tree

Family

Xanthorrhoeaceae

Where found

Dry forest. Coast and ranges north from the Sydney area.

Notes

Tree-like or shrub-like perennial herb, trunk absent or to 2 m high, crowns 1–4, each with spreading mature leaves; young leaves in a more or less erect tuft. Trunk with a pithy core surrounded by the flattened glossy bases of old leaves. Scape below the spike 1–2.1 m long, 10–16 mm in diameter, flower spike 0.5–1.2 m long, 21–33 mm in diameter. Leaves 2.4–5.7 mm wide, 0.7–1.7 mm thick, bright-green, not glaucous, narrowly diamond shaped to triangular in cross section. Individual flowers with 6 'petals' in two rows, outer 'petals' papery or more or less membranous, inner 'petals' membranous. Bracts surrounding the flowers obscure. Bracts between the flowers blunt to pointed, and hairless to fringed with hairs, sometimes hairy on the lower surface. Flowering: March–October.

Protected NSW.  

PlantNET description with photos:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Xanthorrhoea~latifolia (accessed 12 February, 2021)