tives; <i>Cordyline
Australis</i>)."

1874. Garnet Walch, `Head over Heels,' p. 80:

"The grass-trees in front, blame my eyes,
Seemed like plumes on the top of a hearse."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 119:

"How strikingly different the external features of plants may
be, though floral structure may draw them into congruity, is
well demonstrated by our so-called grass-trees, which pertain
truly to the liliaceous order. These scientifically defined
as Xanthorhoeas from the exudation of yellowish sap, which
indurates into resinous masses, have all the essential notes
of the order, so far as structure of flowers and fruits is
concerned, but their palm-like habit, together with cylindric
spikes on long and simple stalks, is quite peculiar, and
impresses on landscapes, when these plants in masses are
occuring, a singular feature."

1879. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia' (ed. 1893), p. 52:

"The grass trees (<i>Xanthorrhoea</i>) are a peculiar feature
to the Australian landscape. From a rugged stem, varying from
two to ten or twelve feet in height, springs a tuft of drooping
wiry foliage, from the centre of which rises a spike not unlike
a huge bulrush. When it flowers in winter, this spike becomes
covered with white stars, and a heath covered with grass trees
then has an appearance at once singular and beautiful."

1882. A. Tolmer, `Reminiscences,' vol, ii. p. 102:

"The root of the grass-tree is pleasant enough to eat, and
tastes something like the meat of the almond-tree; but being
unaccustomed to the kind of fare, and probably owing to the
empty state of our stomachs, we suffered severely from
diarrhoea."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 43:

"Grass-trees are most comical-looking objects. They have a
black bare stem, from one to eight feet high, surmounted by a
tuft of half rushes and half grass, out of which, again, grows
a long thing exactly like a huge bullrush. A lot of them
always grow together, and a little way off they are not unlike
the illustrations of Red-Indian chiefs in Fenimore Cooper's
novels."

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 59:

"It [<i>Pseudopanax crassifolium</i>, the <i>Horoeka</i>] is
commonly called lance-wood by the settlers in the North Island,
and grass-tree by those in the South. This species was
discovered during Cook's first voyage, and it need cause no
surprise to learn that the remarkable difference between the
young