Grass Trees Western Australia - Xanthorrhoea preisii, Balga.
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- čas přidán 14. 01. 2022
- / @lifeinthebush
Grass tree trunks are made from grass-like blades and are extremely slow growing. The plant has a multitude of benefits to animals in the bushland including humans - from shelter, to micro environments and food sources , learn more in this video.
This video delves into numerous interesting facts about one of my favourite plants, Xanthorrhoea preisii, otherwise known as Balga or Grass Tree.
Note: Botanically speaking Grass Trees are not 'true' grasses as they don't contain all the identifying features of true grass. The leave blades are very much grass like, hence why the term grass is used.
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These trees have such an other-worldly, mesmerizing appearance to my American eyes. How beautiful and unique! They would look right at home on a SciFi novel's cover as illustrations for a distant planet.
I know what you mean 🙂, they really stand out in the landscape; they're so unique and draw your attention. I hope you get to visit Australia some day and see them in person.🙂
If you come to the Southwest U.S., we have many native plants that resemble the grass tree. Dasylirion longissimum, Dasylirion quadrangulatum, Nolina bigelovii, Yucca elata and much more. The flowers are definitely very unique on the grass tree though. It’s amazing that Australia has a very similar looking genus!
@@southwesthardypalms wow, thanks for that, I've just googled them all and you're right they are so similar, how amazing. A lot of Australians plant Yucca's in their garden, but I'm not sure I've seen the elata before. We also have another species totally unrelated but very similar to the grass tree called Kingia australis, it's on my list for a future video. 🙂
These trees never cease to amaze me. I grew up in SA, surrounded by grass trees - Xanthorrhoea semiplana, and there are some absolutely huge specimens in any untouched landscape that still remains. I can only imagine how many hundreds of years old they are!
I can relate, it's a wonderful feeling to be in the presence of ancient plants and admire their complexities and beauty ☺ thanks for commenting. 🙏
Terrific! Thanks.
You’re welcome Brenton 😊
what a delightful tree... i wonder how well they would do in the american south west..
They do fantastic! I have seen them at a botanical garden in Phoenix, Arizona.
They certainly are delightful 🙂
@@southwesthardypalms No kidding? that is so encouraging, I'm going to Google this right now! super interested in it. thank you for sharing
Love your videos. Keep up the good work. A video about the parallel evolution of Xanthorrhoea and Kingia Australis would be very interesting.✌️✌️
Thank you :). That is a good Idea, I've just come back from a holiday down in Walpole and was admiring the Kingia while I was there, they can get so tall, they are so impressive! :)
Thank you so much for sharing 🙇♀️❤️
You are so welcome ☺️. Thank you so much for your comment 🙏🏼
Very interesting!!!
Thank you Trevor, I'm glad you're enjoying the channel :)
Great video
Thank you so much Joe :)
very informative thanks for your efforts 😄
Thank you Narendra 😊🙏🏼
Great video with heaps of education! 👍 ..& respect 🪃 👍
I'm lucky to have a specimen at our letterbox line out front.
Last year we had 3 x 3+ metre flowers..before it couldnt support 2 & they fell.
It was a great feast for heaps of insects.
Though I have never seen the Rainbows', Red-capped or 28s on them. ..I'll have to keep more of an eye out next time 👍
👋
thank you 😀, you're so fortunate, mine hasn't flowered since it was transplanted into my front yard 10yrs ago. That must have been so exciting 😍
@@LifeintheBush this one has been here for at least 25yrs now.
Hopefully yours will flower soon🤞
Thank you for explanation specially I didn’t knew you can taste the sap. But I’ve noticed your trees are covered with so thick dry leaves/ blades, any reason why don’t trim them and burn them every few together to stimulate the growth?
Please explain why?
Thank you
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you liked the video. I didn't say you can taste the sap; I said I've tasted the nectar. The leaves, both green or dry, are a natural part of the plant and I explained thier benefit to biodiversity in the video. There is no reason for human intervention in the bushland, to trim or burn the leaves to try and stimulate growth and I don't think it would work anyway. These plants are monocotyledons with a very different vascular system to most shrubs and trees that people may prune in thier gardens to stimulate growth. Burning these plants regularly would likely cause too much stress to the plant also.
Is it possible to buy seeds for these trees? I would like to host a couple in my yard if possible.
Hi, you might be able to buy seeds but they take an incredibly long time to grow. I worked in a nursery in Victoria many years ago and we grew the local grass trees from seed and they start out as one leaf blade and gradually grow more blades, it's a very long time before the trunk starts to appear. If you can buy them as tubestock it will save you some time but if you want one with a trunk it will cost a couple of hundred dollars. I bought one from Replants replants.com/ about ten years ago and it's been well worth the investment because I've enjoyed having an established grass tree in my yard for that long rather than something that still resembles grass.
@@LifeintheBush Thank you for the reply, I did not realize that they grow that slow. Also, I am pretty sure it would cost a small fortune to have even a small tree shipped to the U.S. not to mention it may not even survive the trip. Do you happen to know who may be selling seeds? Cheers!
Hi, I didn’t realise you were in the US 😊. I don’t know where you would get seeds that can be sent overseas. Perhaps there is a similar looking local plant in the US that you could put in your garden to support your local wildlife. All the best.
هذه النبته جميلة جدا و كنت أبحث عنها منذ سنوات انا أسكن بالشرق الاوسط. هيه لا تتواجد هناك انا احبها جدا 50$ سعر النبته الصغيره جدا منها
Yes, they can be expensive to buy because they take so long to grow. I bought one over 10 years ago and it cost over $200 to have it transplanted into my garden.
Plant nurseries in the UK are importing these from WA and selling them for £3000 or $6000 AUD.
Wow really!? I hope they come with a warranty as they don’t always survive when transplanted and that’s in the same environment where they occur naturally. It’s sad that the reason for most mature grass tree sales over here is because they are being salvaged prior to bushland being cleared for development. I hope it’s not an expanding industry in the UK if that’s where they’re coming from 😢.
Well, Its "literally" not a grass, or a tree.
In scientific/botanical terms correct
Commonly known as black boys
True, many people do still refer to them as that.
Yeah...nah. Not so much these days, thankfully.