Grass Trees............

Grass trees, (formerly known as black boys until it became politically incorrect to refer to them by that name,) were the second treasure I encountered, they are usually black at the bottom and have bushy green linear leaves on the top. Found all over Australia. They have a life span of around 600 years, so this one is very old, the one behind it, older still. They grow to a height of over 4 meters, they average a meter every hundred years. The flowering stalk (will have to look for a flowering one for you to see,) grows at about 2 - 3 cm a day, and will reach a height of over 3 metres, mature plants will flower every 2 - 3 years. Like most of the native Australian plants they seem to thrive after a bush fire, this always puzzles me, how fire can actually create new and abundant life after its deadly destruction. And who likes to visit the grass tree? Bees, ants, butterflies and honey eating birds.............