Date of issue: 18 September 2018
Designer: Gavin Ryan
Printer: Ego (Multi-Color)

This is the only Australian native plant in a series of 5 'Fair Dinkum Australian Alphabet' (Part 4) stamps,
designed to appeal to children .

Plant: Xanthorrhoea sp.

Family: XANTHORRHOEACEAE

Common-name: Grass-tree

There are about 32 species of Xanthorrhoea in Australia, and it occurs nowhere else in the world.

Old plants of some species can produce flower spikes to 4-5m high. Very small white flowers cover upper part of spike.
Trunks in many species are usually blackened by fire, occasionally they are branching, as illustrated here.
Some species bear a 'skirt' of long dead grass-like leaves in the absence of fire.
They occur in all states of Australia.