Grass Tree

Description:

It's a perennial and has secondary thickening meristem in the stem. The stem is rough surfaced, built from accumulated leaf bases around a secondary thickening trunk. The trunk is sometimes unbranched. Some species will branch if the growing pount is damaged but other species will branch naturally. Flowers are born on a long spike above a bare section called a scape - the total length can be up to 4 metres long. Flowering can be stimulated by bushfire.

Habitat:

Kalbarri National Park WA

Notes:

The rate of growth is very slow, about 2 1/2 cm per year. Therefore a 5 metre tall member of the fastest growing species may be 200 yrs old, but the slower growing species may be as old as 600yrs.