Artwork 51 Grass Trees and the Setting Sun Over the Flinders Ranges, South Australia
Section 28
Bizarre and Showy Australians with Gondwanan Ancestry—Kangaroo Paws, Grass Trees, Flame Lilies, and Orchids
Flinders Ranges, South Australia, South Australia
- 1. Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata (Mount Lofty grass tree)
from the artist
The grass trees are unique to the subtropical and tropical regions of Australia, and are indeed both bizarre and showy as plants.
The Xanthorrhoeaceae (grass tree) family is endemic to Australia and evolved about 80–65 mya, with nine genera in the sclerophyll community. Of its 75 species 70 are confined to Australia and five occur in New Guinea and other close islands to the north (Crisp et al., 1999, pp. 336–337).
Grass Trees and the Setting Sun Over the Flinders Ranges, South Australia celebrates Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata, commonly called Mount Lofty grass trees.
On our hikes in the Adelaide Hills and Flinders Ranges we saw many clumps of these unusual plants with crowns of four-sided spiky leaves surrounding a central flower spike. Some grew to two or more metres in height, with flower spikes up to about 1 m. The flowers occupy the upper portion of these long spikes. Small spiky brown fruits develop along the spike as the flowers die. Most stages appear in this artwork, and one plant depicts the unusual shapes developed by some flower spikes.
