There are currently 28 species of Xanthorrhoeas and five subspecies recognised with trunks of some species growing up to 6m. They flower from about 5-6 years onwards.
Xanthorrhoeas or Grass Trees were once more commonly referred to as blackboys, but most people don't call these plants by that name anymore. You can read more at Bruinsma Grasstrees who wrote a good historical piece on where the name 'Blackboys' originally came from.
Grass Trees (genus Xanthorrhoea) technically is not a grass or a tree. According to The Conversation these plants are distantly related to lilies and only started diversifying around 24 - 35 million years ago.
There are a lot of Australian Grass Trees on Meyrik Farm which we believe is of the Xanthorrhoea johnsonii variety which can be found naturally all the way from Queensland to North East NSW. The growth of Xanthorrhoea johnsonii is estimated to be about 0.88 cm per year according to this study by Cock and Kalt (2010) and they can grow up to 5m tall which would make them over 550 years old according to a study done by Borsboom (2005) if they end up reaching this height.
They love full sun and a well drained sandy soil which is probably why there are so many of them on Meyrik Farm which is situated on a sandstone mountain. There are a lot of great websites on Grass Trees which we'll provide links for in our blogs.
Information provided on Xanthorrhoeas on this website is researched where research exists, but some of it will be observational which we hope people will find helpful as there's still so much that is unknown about these amazing plants.
Please do not ever take these plants from their natural environment or from bush areas that do not belong to you. Their root systems are extremely fragile and most of them die once dug up which may not always be immediate with death of the plant sometimes taking up to a year or more. Purchase a grass plant that was grown from seed in a container, or (if you have the patience) grow them yourself from seed for the best outcome.
