Grass trees aren’t a grass (and they’re not trees

Grass trees (genus Xanthorrhoea) look like they were imagined by Dr Seuss. An unmistakable tuft of wiry, grass-like leaves atop a blackened, fire-charred trunk. Of all the wonderfully unique plants in Australia, surely grass trees rank among the most iconic.

Xanthorrhoea have no real trunk – just tightly packed leaves. 

The common name grass tree is a misnomer: Xanthorrhoea are not grasses, nor are they trees. Actually, they are distantly related to lilies. Xanthorrhoea translates to “yellow flow”, the genus named in reference to the ample resin produced at the bases of their leaves.

All 28 species of grass tree are native only to Australia. Xanthorrhoea started diversifying around 24-35 million years ago – shortly after the Eocene/Oligocene mass extinctions – so they have had quite some time to adapt to Australian conditions.

Read the story from The Conversation by a plant ecologist from Deakin University, John Patykowski - “Grass trees aren’t a grass (and they’re not trees.”

French Riviera fires force 12,000 to evacuate.

Bormes-Les-Mimosas: Backed by planes dropping water and fire retardant, more than 1000 firefighters battled wildfires that billowed smoke into the sky over France's southern Cote d'Azur coast and forced the evacuation of 12,000 people.

Sunbathers are being evacuated from the
beach in Le Lavandou, on the French Riviera. 

Large swaths of Mediterranean forest have been left bare and blackened after three days of fires.

About 250 trailer homes, a hangar, an artist's studio and several vehicles were burned in the blazes but no one so far has been injured, according to the prefect of the Var region.

Residents and tourists were evacuated early on Wednesday after a ferocious fire whipped by strong Mistral winds spread from La Londe-Les-Maures to around the picturesque hilltop town of Bormes-Les-Mimosas.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “French Riviera fires force 12,000 to evacuate.”