Grass Trees or in the old offensive language...BLACK BOYS.

Yes went on a discovery tour along the "new" Ocean drive past Yanchep National Park, to Wedge Island hoping to see some great waves after the storm and rain which passed over WA and left us wanting. But did we really want to see so much soil erosion as the beaches of Northern Sydney? No!
 Instead we had lives lost due to our friends/enemies of the deep sea...the Great White Pointer.

Are we getting used to these creatures invading "our" space? One minute the crocodile is the enemy then the Great White Pointer then the stormy weather.

But we found peace when we saw mother nature covering the great expanses with Grass Trees and in some areas... sandhills encroaching. We managed to stop the car and I used my tripod and what I thought my tips I picked up doing landscape photography.

 Unfortunately there were no flowers, usually borne on a long spike above a bare section known as a scape. Xanthorrea consist of about 30 species of flowering plants endemic to Australia.

Should you want to know where the term "Black Boy" came to describe the plant, it became known as such because of the similarity of the trunked species to an Aboriginal holding an upright spear.

Not all develop above the ground.The stem rate of growth is very slow. In WA 1.7cm to 2.5cm per year is expected.The plant however is protected by law and all are perennials.

However the plants may be cultivated from a seed and are easily collected and germinated.