![Grass tree (Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata).[Credits : Peripitus]](http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/76/120976-003-48DA0063.gif)
any plant of the genus Xanthorrhoea of the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, with about 17 species native to eastern Australia. They have thick, woody, often palmlike stems about 5 m (16 feet) tall that end in a tuft of rigid, grasslike leaves from which flower spikes resembling those of the bulrush extend 3 m or more.
The trees are also known as grass gums because of the red or yellow gumlike resins that exude from the bases of old leaves. The resins are used for varnish. In some areas grass trees are known as yaccas (or yuccas) and as blackboys, especially X. hastilis. In western Australia a monotypic species, Kingia australis, is known as grass tree.
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "grass tree" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.