grass tree

2 definitions found

grass tree - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Grass tree \Grass" tree"\ (Bot.)
     (a) An Australian plant of the genus Xanthorrh[oe]a, having
         a thick trunk crowned with a dense tuft of pendulous,
         grasslike leaves, from the center of which arises a long
         stem, bearing at its summit a dense flower spike looking
         somewhat like a large cat-tail. These plants are often
         called "blackboys" from the large trunks denuded and
         blackened by fire. They yield two kinds of fragrant
         resin, called Botany-bay gum, and Gum Acaroides.
     (b) A similar Australian plant (Kingia australis).
         [1913 Webster]

grass tree - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  grass tree
      n 1: elegant tree having either a single trunk or a branching
           trunk each with terminal clusters of long narrow leaves and
           large panicles of fragrant white, yellow or red flowers;
           New Zealand [syn: cabbage tree, grass tree, Cordyline australis
           ]
      2: any of several Australian evergreen perennials having short
         thick woody stems crowned by a tuft of grasslike foliage and
         yielding acaroid resins [syn: grass tree, Australian grass   tree
         ]
      3: gaunt Tasmanian evergreen shrubby tree with slender tapering
         leaves 3 to 5 feet long [syn: tree heath, grass tree,
         Richea pandanifolia]