The common Grass Tree/Balga (Xanthorrhoea preissii) is endemic to Western Australia and grows naturally in sand, loam or gravelly soils, to a height of five metres. They have a lifespan of up to 600 years. The Grass Tree/Balga are important to Aboriginal people across Australia.
Grass trees are also known as 'yacca', which is likely derived from a South Australian Aboriginal language, mostly likely Kaurna.
The Noongar name for grass trees is Balga, which means and there is a spiritual connection as a guardian of people and place, as well as playing a practical role; the stalks provide materials for lighting fire, and it exudes a resin that holds objects together.
Xanthorrhoea australis, the grass tree, austral grasstree or blackboy, is an Australian plant. It is the most commonly seen species of the genus Xanthorrhoea. Its trunk can grow up to several metres tall and is often branched. In certain Aboriginal languages, it is called bukkup, baggup or kawee.
Grass trees (Xanthorrhoea spp.), are flowering plants found only in Australia and was used by Aboriginal people to make weapons, cutting implements and for food.
Grass trees are very much part of the Australian landscape and uniquely Australian. They fascinated the first European settlers, since they were unlike any other known plant. In fact, they are a living fossil developed early in the evolutionary stakes for flowering plants.
Aboriginal people found many uses for most parts of the Pandanus plant. They used the leaves as strapping or string fibre to make baskets, mats, dilly bags, bracelets and various ceremonial objects. The dead stems or branches were used to make didgeridoos as the fibrous inside disintegrated to leave a hollow tube.
They are found in heath and open forests across eastern NSW. The grass tree grows 1-5m in height and produces striking white-flowered spikes which grow up to 1m long. Only found in Australia, the grass tree is a hardy native that thrives in well-drained soils across the continent.
The Aboriginal name for grass tree is 'balga' or black boy, referring to the blackened trunk of the plant that remains after a fire sweeps a region. You may also hear grass tree referred to as 'yacca', a name that may originate from the Kaurna people in South Australia.
The common Grass Tree/Balga (Xanthorrhoea preissii) is endemic to Western Australia and grows naturally in sand, loam or gravelly soils, to a height of five metres. They have a lifespan of up to 600 years.
They include bunji, "a mate, a close friend a kinsman" (from Warlpiri and other languages of the Northern Territory and northern Queensland), boorie, "a boy, a child" (from Wiradjuri), jarjum, "a child" (from Bundjalung), kumanjayi, "a substitute name for a dead person" (from Western Desert language), pukamani "a ...
Gubbah, also spelt gubba, is a term used by some Aboriginal people to refer to white people or non-Aboriginal people. The Macquarie Dictionary has it as "n. Colloq. (derog.) an Aboriginal term for a white man".
Balga, from the Aboriginal word for an indigenous tree, was originally used for market gardens and poultry farms, before large-scale development of Balga began in the late 1950s.
Grass-trees, like all native flora in Western Australia, are protected by law, and can only be removed from private property if complying with clearing laws and with the landowner's permission.
Kangaroo Grass
This is one of the most widespread native grasses in Australia – it grows in every state and territory! From the bush to the coast, you can find kangaroo grass just about everywhere.
Xanthorrhoea plants are also known as Balga Grass Plants. 'Balga' is the Aboriginal word for black boy and for many years the plant was fondly known as a “Black Boy”.
In the Noongar language Gabbee means water, and Kalga (commonly spelt Balga) means grass tree.
Similar plants, such as Yucca Filifera, Yucca Rostrata, Joshua Trees, banana yucca, yucca flacida, and Mexican grass trees can be found Mexico and the southern parts of the United States, sometimes thriving as far north as Missouri.
Eucalypts. With 2,800 species of eucalypts (gum trees), these are the trees most commonly associated with Australia. Eucalypts are found in many areas, from the silver and red snow gums of the Australian Alps to the ancient river red gums in South Australia's Flinders Ranges.
Should I cut off my flower spike? Sending up a flower spike is an energy sapping process for the tree and so it is often considered that removing the flower spike early will limit the amount of energy used to produce the spike and increase the likelihood of consistent growth of the roots and leaves instead.
Pruning Grass Trees
The first sign that you need to prune your grass tree is that it's turning brown. Without cutting the leaves, it can't regrow. It's easier if you tie the leaves together with string so you can get to the roots.
Aboriginal people eat the fruit once they have ripened to a deep orange-red colour, but getting into the seed is another thing! If you want to try eating the seeds from inside the fruit, wait until they have changed to a brown colour. Place them in a vice and use a saw to gently cut into the nut-like fruit.
Tobacco is the first plant that creation gave to the Anishinaabe. Three other plants, sage, cedar and sweetgrass, follow tobacco, and together they are referred to as the four sacred medicines. The four sacred medicines are used in everyday life and in ceremonies. All of them can be used to smudge with.