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|
Aboriginal uses of local plants
The following information was taken from notes
accompanying Colleen Muir's talk which was presented at
the 1999 Annual General Meeting of Greenlink Box Hill Inc.
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Acacia dealbata |
Silver wattle |
|
|
Contains up to 29% tannin. Before
the discovery of gold in 1852, silver wattle bark
was one of Victoria's main exports. Kooris used
it to tan fishing nets and drank a decoction of
it for indigestion. It was also an important
source of edible gum, which could be eaten fresh
or carried over long distances when dried. The
bark was sometimes cut to ensure a continuous
flow of gum. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Acacia melanoxylon |
Blackwood |
|
|
An infusion of the roasted,
tannin-rich bark was used to bathe rheumatic
joints. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Acacia pycnantha |
Golden wattle |
|
|
Australia's floral emblem. Exudes
a true gum, which is edible and pleasant to eat.
The heavy scent of the flowers prompted its
promotion for the perfume industry which,
unfortunately, never eventuated. The high tannin
content in the bark, and its ease of cultivation,
made this wattle a popular choice in Victoria for
leather tanning. The seeds are edible. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Wattle seeds are highly
nutritious, being rich in protein and fats. Many
species are important in the diets of arid inland
communities. Wattles with edible seeds are being
planted in Africa to help avert famine |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Acaena novae-zelandiae |
Bidgee-widgee |
|
|
The delight of the colonial, and
other, childen for waging burr-fights. It was
used by their elders to make a tea which was
considered in New Zealand, where the plant also
occurs, to be a tonic and remedy for several
ills, although it was apparently not used
medicinally in Australia. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Acrotriche serrulata |
Honeypots |
|
|
Is a heathy plant bearing
numerous tiny flowers which are swollen and
filled with delicious nectar. The flowers are
followed by small, green, edible fruit. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Amyema pendulum |
Drooping mistletoe |
|
|
Is a semi-parasite on the stems
of Eucalypts. Because it has green leaves, it can
photosynthesise and provide some of its own food.
The berries are very sticky and provide one of
the sweetest of bush treats. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Arthropodium strictum |
Chocolate lily |
|
|
Produces charming, chocolate-scented
flowers. Not only did the tubers provide the
Kooris with food, but the flowers and stems were
ground up and cooked. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Astroloma humifisum |
Cranberry Heath |
|
|
Is part of Australia's rich
heathland flora, whose beautiful flowers are
often followed by edible berries, used by both
Aborigines and settlers. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Flowers, which produce copious
nectar, are often pounded in water to produce a
sweet drink. The liquid was contained in "tarnuks"
(see Eucalyptus viminalis) |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Billardiera scandens |
Common Appleberry |
|
|
Is a dainty climber with dainty
greenish bell-shaped flowers and sausage-like
fruit. Full of seeds, the fruit are edible but
not highly palatable. More interesting for bush
children than their parents |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Bulbine bulbosa |
Bulbine lily |
|
|
Is common in most states of
Australia. The plant grows from a creamy,
spherical corm with a ring of swollen roots. It
can be cooked and eaten all year round. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Burchardia umbellata |
Milkmaids |
|
|
In common with most grassland
herbs, it dies down in Summer and grows again in
Winter from an edible root-stock. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Bursaria spinosa |
Sweet bursaria |
|
|
Contains esculin. The esculin can
be extracted and used as an ultraviolet screen in
suntan lotions. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Centaurium spicatum |
Australian Centaury |
|
|
Closely resembles the introduced
C. erythraea, which soon largely replaced it.
Because of their extreme bitterness, both species
were considered prime spring tonics, taken as a
decoction of the whole plant. Victorian
Aborigines used it as well as colonists |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Clematis aristata |
Old Man's Beard |
|
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Clematis microphylla |
Small-leaved clematis |
|
|
Occurs all over Victoria. Like
other members of this genus, this one has acrid
sap. Settlers used the leaves as a counter-irritant.
Used according to directions, it was effective in
three minutes, but it could cause blistering if
left on too long. The swollen, fibrous roots are
edible when cooked and contain useful quantities
of starch. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Coprosma quadrifida |
Prickly currant bush |
|
|
Produces quantities of tiny,
succulent fruit which require patience to pick.
However, the reward is a pleasant taste and some
succulence. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Daviesia latifolia |
Hop Bitter Pea |
|
|
Is common in hilly and
mountainous areas, often where prospectors
fossicked for gold. They used an infusion of the
leaves as a tonic, to reduce fevers and as an
unlikely treatment for hydatids cysts. Some
remarkable cures were attributed to it. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Dianella tasmanica |
Tasman flax lily |
|
|
Is wide-spread. All Dianellas
have tough leaves with strong fibre that was used
in basket-making. Our knowledge of Aboriginal
diets in the south-east is so incomplete that no
records remain of the beautiful purple berries
being eaten, although they are quite edible. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Drosera peltata |
Pale sundew |
|
|
Is one of a fascinating group of
dainty, carivorous plants that capture insects
for food., Two Victorian species, D. peltata and
D. whittakeri, show anti-bacterial activity
against gram-negative bacteria. They have been
used in place of the medicinal European D.
rotundifolia, which is now over-harvested and
unobtainable |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Eucalyptus obliqua |
Messmate stringybark |
|
|
(And also E. macrorhyncha - Red
stringybark). The inner bark was used to make a
coarse string for bags and fishing nets. The dry,
fibrous outer-bark was used as tinder for fire-lighting.
The leaves contain esculin and rutin. Rutin was
once extracted commercially for medicinal
purposes. The tannin-rich kino is astringent,
useful for treating burns. Early settlers used
sheets of stringybark for walls and roofs of
shacks, and made strong rope from the bark fibre. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Eucalyptus oil, first extracted
by Joseph Bosisto, is Australia's herbal
contribution to the world. Aborigines knew of its
medicinal properties long ago. Those of the north
used the crushed leaves as a sniffing medicine,
while those in Victoria used a value-added
product from the bladders of possums. Possum
urine was drunk to relieve colds and was
described by Yarra tribe people as "pure
eucalyptus". Those bladder donors also, of
course, provided meat as well as skins for cloaks.
The tannin-rich "gum" - or, more
correctly, kino - of many eucalypts was used by
Aborigines to make an antiseptic wash for burns
and skin infections. The also drank it, dissolved
in water, for gut upsets and diarrhoea. It was
considered of immense value by convicts, bushmen
and early colonists to treat diarrhoea. Boiled in
an iron pot, kino produced a black die used for
ink and staining leather. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Eucalyptus viminalis |
Manna Gum |
|
|
Is named for the Manna, a white
sugary accumulation of dried sap that might
accumulate where sucking insects has pierced
holes in the leaves. The wood was used used to
make flat shields and "tarnuks" - bowls
made from the detached bark of burls, knobby
outgrowths from the trunk, initiated by sap-sucking
insects. |
|
The smoke from the leaves laid on
a fire was used to smoke out a fever |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Exocarpus cupressiformis |
Wild cherry |
|
|
Is a partial root parasite of
Eucalypts, often growing from suckers in a ring
about a large stringybark tree. The bright red,
edible "fruits" are really the swollen
fruit stalks of the little hard fruits, rather in
the manner of a cashew nut. At least one bush
child was delighted to find these bright red
"candles" on her war-time birthday cake.
Pioneering women used them to make jam, which was
said to be particularly good mixed with wild
raspberries. In the 19th century the bitter
astringent leaves were valued medicinally |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Goodenia ovata |
Native hops |
|
Hop Goodenia |
|
Is quite unrelated to commercial
hops. It grows abundantly amongst the tall timber
on the mountain-sides near Corranderrk.
Aboriginal mothers used it to put young children
to sleep on long journeys, by rubbing the leaves
on their fingers and under their nails, so when
the children sucked their fingers, they would
fall asleep and be more easily carried. The flesh
of the little black wallabies that still inhabit
these hillsides was said to taste of the hops on
which they fed. The leaves, which contain usolic
acid, are said to have anti-diabetic qualities. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Hardenbergia violacea |
Sarsaparilla |
|
|
Was used by bushmen as a
substitute for the true native sarsaparilla
species, Smilax glycinoides and S australis but
Maiden assures us that any virtues attributed to
it are purely imaginary. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Indigofera australis |
Austral indigo |
|
Bushman's string |
|
Is related to the indigo of
commerce. Kooris used the root as a fish poison
and the flowers to obtain a blue dye. No doubt,
like the latter bushmen, they also used the tough
bark for string. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Some species were probably used
for basket-making |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Lepidosperma spp |
Sword-sedges |
|
|
Provide strong leaves for basket
making. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Linum marginale |
Native flax |
|
|
Is very similar to the cultivated
species but smaller. It was once so common in the
great grasslands of temperate Australia that
Baron von Mueller suggested that an industry
could be established to process it. Alas, the
grazing of grasslands soon caused the
disappearance of the flax from many areas. The
Aborigines used the fibre to make cords and
fishing nets, and ate the nutritious seed, which
has similar components to cultivated linseed. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Lomandra longifolia |
Spiny-headed Mat Rush |
|
|
Is one of several species whose
tiny flowers were eaten by Kooris and whose
leaves were used for making baskets and, in the
Western district, eel traps. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Microseris scapigera |
Yam Daisy |
|
Murnong |
|
Is a plant with grass-like leaves
and a dandelion-like flower. The small carrot-like
roots were either eaten raw or roasted in fibre
baskets. They are said to taste rather like sweet
potatoes. When John Batman arrived in Australia
in 1835, Murnongs were so common that the roots
formed the staple of the Aboriginal diet. By 1837,
squatters were grazing 100,000 sheep in the Port
Phillip area and the Murnongs were eaten out.
This was a major factor in the disintegration of
the southern tribes |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Orchidacae family |
terrestrial orchids |
|
|
Most species of ground orchids
were eaten, either raw or cooked, roasted or
steamed. They could be harvested all year round
and were once so common that they formed a
significant part of the diet. The tubers of Brown
Beaks (Lyperanthus suaveolens) are are like small
potatoes, about two finger-widths long. They have
a pleasant, starchy flavour. In Victoria all
terrestrial orchids are now protected, for their
habitats have been largely destroyed by grazing
and housing development.
|
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Phragmites australis |
Common reed |
|
|
Produces tender young shoots
which were eaten. The leaves were used for basket
making and the stems were burnt in short sections
and threaded to make necklaces |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Pimelia spp |
Bushman's string |
|
Bootlace bush |
|
Plants with distinctive, usually
white flowers, often in heads at the ends of
slender stems. The bark is often tough and
fibrous. It was used by Aborigines to make nets
and headbands. Many a bushman stripped off the
bark to replace a broken bootlace |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Is a rather spongy bracket-fungus
which was used to carry fire from one camp-site
to another, as it smoulders when damp. When dry,
it burns fiercely and produces a foul smell. It
was a woman's job to carry the fire and to
occasionally swing the fungus above her head to
keep the spark alight. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Prostanthera lasianthos |
Victorian Christmas bush |
|
|
Known as Corranderrk to the Yarra
Yarra people. It was the name chosen by them for
the Aboriginal settlement near Healesville, where
the banks of the streams were over-hung with
cascades of delicate white Corranderrk flowers.
The pithy stems of the Christmas bush were used
as fire drills, set in grooves in hardwood base
sticks, for producing fire |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Prunella vulgaris |
Self heal |
|
|
Is common throughout the damper
parts of Victoria, especially near streams.
Identical to the European Self Heal, it is
assumed that seeds were brought to Australia long
ago, perhaps stuck to the feathers of water birds. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Pteridium esculentum |
Bracken fern |
|
|
Culprit and cure! Bullant
bites are one of the commonest hazards in the
bush, so every bushman and woman knows that the
pain and swelling can be relieved by applying the
mucilaginous, starchy matter in the rhizome and
the bases of the stems of bracken fern.
Aborigines used this starch for food, by
roasting the rhizomes in hot ashes, then beating
them to a paste between stones, when the starch
could be chewed out from the fibre.
|
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Rubus parvifolius |
Small-leaf bramble |
|
Native raspberry |
|
Is the commonest of five native
species occurring in Victoria, growing abundantly
on river flats and moist hillsides. The
astringent leaves were used by early settlers in
Victoria to treat diarrhoea, while the fruit
provided fruit for Aborigines and settlers'
children. The fruit of this species are very
pleasant to eat. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Solanum aviculare |
Kangaroo apple |
|
|
Is a bush whose leaves are often
shaped like a kangaroo's paw. Purple flowers are
followed by orange berries which are edible when
very ripe and wrinkled. When unripe, the berries
are poisonous, containing steroids, alkaloids and
solasadine, used in the synthesis of oral
contraceptives and cortisone. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Soncious oleraceus |
Common Sow-Thistle |
|
|
Is thought by some to have
preceded white settlement, possibly with seed
arriving on the feet of birds. There are numerous
records of Aborigines using it for food. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Thysanotus patersonii |
Twining fringe lily |
|
|
A dainty relative of the common
fringe lily. Both species provided edible tubers. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Triglochin procera |
Water Ribbons |
|
|
Is an aquatic plant whose long
floating leaves arise from from a tough
underground rhizome, which also produces finger-like
starchy tubers which were cooked in earth-ovens.
Water ribbons is one of the few food plants
common to both northern and southern Australia. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Typha spp |
Cumbungi |
|
Bullrush |
|
Was a most important food plant
in the Murray-Darling river system, providing a
potato-like starch from the rough rhizomes..
These were prepared by steaming in an earth-oven,
when they were twisted into a knot and chewed to
extract the starch. The residual fibre was used
to make string. In early summer, they were
palatable when new shoots were eaten raw. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Wahlenbergia spp |
Bluebells |
|
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Wurmbia dioica |
Early Nancy |
|
Harbinger of Spring |
|
Awakes from its Summer dormancy
as soon as the Autumn rains fall. The flowers,
which are usually dioecious (sexes produced on
separate plants), are the first to appear in late
Winter. The plants occurred in great abundance
so, although small, the underground tubers
provided a good food source. |
|
Botanical Name |
Common Name(s) |
|
Xanthorrhoea spp |
Grass trees |
|
|
Provide nectar-rich flowers as
well as resin for hafting spears and axes. The
top of the trunk and the soft, white leaves are
starchy and palatable. Surgeon White of the First
Fleet considered the dissolved resin to be an
excellent treatment for chest complaints.
Aborigines sold pieces of the resinous trunks to
colonists as fire-lighters. |
|
