Grass Trees Native Australian Plant Xanthorrhoea Stock Image

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”. It is thought that the Aborigines called the plants Balga because after a bush fire had ravaged the land, the blackened trunk of the Xanthorrhoea would be revealed beneath the burned lower leaves, and would resemble a child-like black figure. Others believe that the plant, with it’s bush fire-blackened trunk and long flower spike resembled an Aboriginal boy wielding a spear. Whatever the case, as the years have passed, it is seen as an extremely racist name and is thought to be very offensive to the original custodians of the land, so the plants are more commonly known as Grass Tree