GRASS TREE

any plant of the genus Xanthorrhoea of the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, with about 17 species native to eastern Australia. They have thick, woody, often palmlike stems about 5 m (16 feet) tall that end in a tuft of rigid, grasslike leaves from which flower spikes resembling those of the bulrush extend 3 m or more. The trees are also known as grass gums because of the red or yellow gumlike resins that exude from the bases of old leaves. The resins are used for varnish. In some areas grass trees are known as yaccas (or yuccas) and as blackboys, especially X. hastilis. In western Australia a monotypic species, Kingia australis, is known as grass tree.