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Xanthorrhoea preissii
In Singapore: Grass Tree, Blackboy, Blaga (Cultivated in Singapore)
Balga is a slow-growing, grass-tree-like perennial from southwest Western Australia, with a trunk that can exceed 3 m and a dense crown of long, grass-like leaves. It is tough, fire-adapted and best grown in full sun with excellent drainage.
Xanthorrhoea preissii, known as balga, is a widespread species of perennial monocot in Southwest Australia.
It is found throughout coastal plains, near watercourses, and inland forest regions, in a range extending from Geraldton to Albany and in the Avon Wheatbelt. It occurs on a wide variety of soil types and is sometimes associated with laterite and granite.
The species had a high economic importance to the Noongar people, who named it balga, utilising the gum it contains, the spike for fish spears, and the bardi grub as a source of food. Anecdotal information on the species refers to an association with fire in the culture of those people.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Xanthorrhoea preissii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
