Grass Tree

A plant with a fascinating look: the Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea spec.). It is of course no grass at all - neither it grows to the size of a tree. In fact, they are no trees at all, they are perennials. Still, I ignore the fact and list them as trees.

These plants grow incredibly slow - a grown up one might be twohundred years old or more. Still, it looks sometimes like they grow much quicker as one can see along well-maintained tracks like the Great Ocean Walk. It's interesting to see how the regrow in spirals. I find these leaves of all the same size and shape pretty fasciating. They almost look like something artificial with their perfection.

When I was there in Jan/Feb, it was the totally wrong time to see them flower. But I did manage to photograph some flower spikes that survived from the previous season.