Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Xanthorrhoea macronema

Flowers and flower buds. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Flower heads. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Flowering plant. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Common name

A grass-tree

Family

Xanthorrhoeaceae

Where found

Forest. Coast and ranges north from Stanwell Park north of Wollongong..

Notes

Shrub-like perennial herb. Trunk absent. Stem sometimes branched below the ground; crowns 1-many, in a loosely upright or bent down tuft. Scape below the spike 1–1.6 m long, 0.4–0.5 cm diameter; flower spike 0.05–0.13 m long, 14–20 mm in diameter. Leaves basal, usually 2.3–3.5 mm wide, 1.2–1.8 mm thick, light to dark green, not glaucous, almost oval to triangular or concave in cross section. Individual flowers cream to yellow, 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 pointed, and hairless. Flowering: July–January

Protected NSW.  

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