a grass-tree. Name applied to allspecies of the genus Xanthorroea, but especially to X. preissii, Endl., N.O. Liliaceae. Compare Maori-head.
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discovery in Australia,' ii. 4, 132:
«Black Boy . . . gum on the spear, resin on the trunk.»
Ibid. ii. 12, 280 [Note]
«These trees, called blackboys by the colonists, from theresemblance they bear in the distance to natives.»
1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 92:
«Gas admirably fitted for domestic purposes had been extractedfrom the shrub called the `blackboy.' I regret to state thatthe gas . . . is not . . . at present known in the colony.»
1886. R. Henty, `Australiana,' p. 15:
«The common grass-tree or `blackboy,' so called from its longdark stem and dark seed head (when dry).»
1896. `The Australasian,' Feb. 15, p. 313 (with anIllustration):
«The Blackboy trees are a species of grass-tree or Xanthorrhoea, exuding a gummy substance used by theblacks for fastening glass and quartz-barbs to their spears.Many years ago, when coal was scarce in Western Australia, anenterprising firm . . . erected a gas-making plant, andsuccessfully lit their premises with gas made from theBlackboy.»
1896. Modern:
A story is told of a young lady saying to a naval officer: – – «I was this morning watching your ship coming into harbour,and so intently that I rode over a young blackboy.» The officerwas shocked at her callousness in expressing no contrition.