Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Xanthorrhoea minor

Flowers and flower buds (subsp. minor). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Bouddi National Park near Gosford

Flower heads (subsp. minor). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Bouddi National Park near Gosford

Flowering plant (subsp. minor). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Bouddi National Park near Gosford

Plant (?subsp. lutea). Photographer Jackie Miles, Ben Boyd National Park south of Eden

Common name

A grass-tree

Family

Xanthorrhoeaceae

Where found

Heath and swamps, usually on poorly drained sites which are seasonally waterlogged.

subsp. lutea: Possibly south of Eden.

subsp. minor:  Coast and ranges north from west of Wollongong.

Notes

Shrub-like perennial herb. Trunk absent. Stem branched the below ground, crowns many, each a more or less erect tuft. Scape below the spike 0.3–0.6 m long, 3–8 mm in diameter, often curved; flower spike 0.05–0.12 m long, 7–20 mm in diameter. Leaves 1.9–4 mm wide, 1–1.5 mm thick, green, not glaucous, triangular to concave 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 sometimes prominent for at least part of the spike, pointed to triangular, and the upper third hairless to sparsely fringed with hairs, basally almost hairless to densely hairy.

subsp. lutea:  Inner 'petals' yellow. Bracts between the flowers more or less pointed, and mediumly densely hairy on the margins.

subsp. minor:  Inner 'petals' white to cream. Bracts between the flowers more or less pointed, almost hairless to fringed with hairs.

Protected NSW.  

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