Xanthorrhoea Fulva

Xanthorrhoea Fulva

Plant of the Month - November by Allan Carr Xanthorrhoea fulva wallum grass tree Pronunciation: zan-tho-REE-a FULL-va XANTHORRHOEACEAE Derivation: Xanthorrhoea, from the Greek, xanthos - yellow and rhoea - flowing. (refers to the yellow resin in the type species); fulva, from the Latin, fulvus - deep yellow. Flowers, buds + butterfly, bee Habit, leaves, flowers Leaves after fire Xanthorrhoea is a genus of 28 species, endemic in Australia mainly in temperate regions, with a few in the tropics and one species confined to arid Central Australia. These are very special plants providing a dramatic feature of the Australian landscape and often occur in large colonies. They are very slow growing so those with tall stems can be hundreds of years old. Description: X fulva is a trunkless tufted herbaceous plant with a stem that branches underground. They are often in massed groups in damp wallum areas from around Rockhampton, Qld and through coastal NSW as far as Wyong, usually in communities of Melaleuca quinquenervia and Banksia robur on sand plains with high water tables. Many honeyeaters and invertebrates such as the Scarlet Jezebel (Delias argenthona) above, feed on their abundant nectar. Leaves in a basal cluster are long and grass-like, usually bluish-green to 3.5 mm wide and triangular or almost flat in cross-section. Flushes of new leaves such as occur after fire are grazed by kangaroos and wallabies Flowers are creamy-white and clustered along a *spike up to 60 cm long on a *scape up to 180 cm long and 2 cm diameter. Massed displays can occur from September to November on Bribie Island and at nearby Sandstone Point. Fruits are multiple seed capsules embedded along the flower spike, each containing one or more dull black seeds. Aboriginal people used the resin as a component of glue for canoes, tools and weapons and the flower spikes as fire sticks. A sweet drink was made by soaking the flower spikes in water. *scape = a leafless flower stalk arising from near the ground *spike = an inflorescence in which the flowers are without a stalk, along an unbranched axis Developing fruits .

View Full Text

Details

  • File Type
    pdf
  • Upload Time
    -
  • Content Languages
    English
  • Upload User
    Anonymous/Not logged-in
  • File Pages
    1 Page
  • File Size
    -

Download

Channel Download Status
Express Download Enable

Copyright

We respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights of all users. All uploaded documents are either original works of the uploader or authorized works of the rightful owners.

  • Not to be reproduced or distributed without explicit permission.
  • Not used for commercial purposes outside of approved use cases.
  • Not used to infringe on the rights of the original creators.
  • If you believe any content infringes your copyright, please contact us immediately.

Support

For help with questions, suggestions, or problems, please contact us