An Australian tree or erect shrub with long, stiff grass-like leaves. Flowering in some species is stimulated by fire. Also called grass tree.
- Genus Xanthorrhoea, family Xanthorrhoeaceae: several species, including a tree (X. preissii) with a thick dark trunk and a palm-like crown of leaves, and a shrub (X. australis) with a short buried trunk and leaves on the surface of the ground
More example sentences
- But then the impression is spiked by a ‘blackboy’ at the roadside, a stout trunk sprouting grass, and by the ragged-barked trees that just don't behave as they do at home.
- Well just here you've got the grass tree, or as some people used to call them, blackboys.