Murnong Daisy (Yam Daisy)| Microseris walteri
| Size of Plant: Tufted perennial, prostrate to 40cm tall. Edible Part: Tubers Suggested use in cooking: Nutty, sweet taste. Roasted or steamed. Fun Fact: A prized bush food with tubers sweeter than your average spud! Traditional Use: A staple food for Aboriginal peoples in southeastern Australia, with its energy-rich tubers eaten raw or cooked. The plant also played a cultural role, with its flowers potentially signaling the presence of game animals like bandicoots. It was a vital, widespread, and easily cultivated food source that became scarce after the introduction of livestock, but efforts are underway to revive its cultivation and cultural importance. |
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Bulbine Lily | Bulbine bulbosa
| Size of Plant: clumping perennial plant that typically grows to a height and width of about 30-70 cm Edible Part: Tubers. Suggested use in cooking: Sweet, mild taste. Tubers roasted. Fun Fact: Bulbine’s roots are roasted like nature’s tiny sweet potatoes. Traditional Use: primarily as a food source, with Indigenous Australians roasting the nutritious, calcium- and iron-rich corms. Other uses included making a sweet drink from the flower spikes, eating the soft leaf bases and flower stem growing points, and utilizing the flower stems to create a drill for making fire. Additionally, the plant’s resin was used as a glue for making weapons. |
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Golden Wattle | Acacia pycnantha
| Size of Plant: Large shrub or small tree Edible Part: Mature seeds, after appropriate preparation Suggested use in cooking: Correctly identified seeds can be processed, roasted and ground into flour for breads and other foods. Use properly prepared wattleseed, as seeds from different wattle species are not interchangeable. Fun Fact: Golden Wattle is Australia’s national floral emblem, bringing masses of bright yellow flower heads to the garden. Cultural and historical note: Aboriginal plant-use records describe Golden Wattle seeds being ground for flour and its gum being used as food. It creates opportunities to explore native foods and seasonal knowledge. |
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Photo: Rexness, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Chocolate Lily | Arthropodium strictum
| Size of Plant: Tufted perennial with grass-like leaves and upright flower stems Edible Part: Tubers, cooked Suggested use in cooking: Roast cultivated tubers before eating for their mild, nutty flavour. Leave some tubers to regrow after harvesting. Fun Fact: The mauve flowers have a distinctive chocolate scent. Cultural and historical note: Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong knowledge shared with the City of Melbourne describes roasting the tubers and maintaining the plant through careful harvesting and replanting. |
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Small Vanilla-Lily | Arthropodium minus
| Size of Plant: Small tufted perennial, up to approximately 50 cm tall Edible Part: Underground tubers Suggested use in cooking: Cook cultivated tubers as a small root vegetable, for example by roasting. Harvest from plants grown for food, leaving some tubers to regrow. Fun Fact: Its fine, grass-like leaves may wither before the delicate mauve flowers appear. Cultural and historical note: Australian National Botanic Gardens plant-use records describe the edible tubers of Small Vanilla-Lily and related native lilies. These plants offer a connection to Aboriginal food knowledge and the underground harvest of grasslands and woodlands. |
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Photo: B 897, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Display cropped to fit.
Kangaroo Grass | Themeda triandra
| Size of Plant: Tufted perennial grass, approximately 40 cm to 1 m tall Edible Part: Seeds, cleaned and processed Suggested use in cooking: Separate the seeds from the seed heads and remove the husks before milling. The flour can be used in damper and other breads. Fun Fact: Its distinctive seed heads turn reddish-brown, and the twisting seed awns help work the seeds into the soil. Cultural and historical note: Kangaroo Grass has longstanding food and fibre uses. Wurundjeri knowledge shared with the City of Melbourne describes seed flour for damper and stems and leaves made into string for nets, traps and bags. |
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Photo: Peripitus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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