Xanthorrhoea brunonis facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Xanthorrhoea brunonis
Xanthorrhoea brunonis at Wireless Hill Park in Perth, Western Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Asphodelaceae
Subfamily:	Xanthorrhoeoideae
Genus:	Xanthorrhoea
Species:	X. brunonis
Binomial name
Xanthorrhoea brunonis Endl.
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The Xanthorrhoea brunonis is a special type of plant called a grasstree. It belongs to the Xanthorrhoea family and grows naturally in Western Australia. These plants are also known as "blackboys" or "grass trees" because of their unique look.

What Does Xanthorrhoea brunonis Look Like?

This amazing plant is a perennial, which means it lives for many years. It usually grows to about 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall. Most of the time, it doesn't have a main trunk like a tree. Instead, it has a long stem called a scape, which can be from 0.35 to 1.5 metres (1.1 to 4.9 feet) long.

The plant's flower spike, where the flowers grow, is usually quite short, only about 0.1 to 0.3 metres (0.3 to 1.0 feet) tall. It blooms with pretty white-cream flowers between October and December. The leaves grow in a bushy clump and can be up to 80 centimetres (31 inches) long. A cool fact about this grasstree is that the part of the stem without flowers is always longer than the part with flowers! You can tell it apart from another similar grasstree, Xanthorrhoea preissii, by looking closely at its flowers.

How Was This Plant Named?

The Xanthorrhoea brunonis was first officially described by a botanist (a plant scientist) named Stephan Endlicher in 1846. He included it in a book called Irideae. Plantae Preissianae, which was written by Johann Georg Christian Lehmann.

The name Xanthorrhoea comes from two ancient Greek words: xanthos, meaning "yellow," and rheo, meaning "to flow." This refers to a sticky, yellow gum that drips from the plant's stem. The second part of the name, brunonis, is a way to honor Robert Brown. He was a naturalist who explored with Captain Matthew Flinders on an important expedition.

There are actually two slightly different types of Xanthorrhoea brunonis:

• Xanthorrhoea brunonis subsp. brunonis
• Xanthorrhoea brunonis subsp. semibarbata

Where Does Xanthorrhoea brunonis Grow?

You can find Xanthorrhoea brunonis in several areas of Western Australia. It grows on the Swan Coastal Plain and along the west coast in regions like the Wheatbelt, Peel, and South West. You can also find it on the south coast in the Great Southern region.

It grows from a town called Dandaragan in the north all the way down to Augusta in the south. This grasstree prefers to grow in sandy-clay soils that are found over a type of rock called laterite.