Aussie Bush Tucker - An Introduction to Common Native Foods of Australia

Cathy said:
I found this article today while trying to find out if Rosella can be perennial...
I would love to have one of those giant varieties!
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tropicalhousegarden.com

Rosella: A Wonderful 'Bush Tucker' Plant - Tropical House & Garden

Rosella fruit from the rosella plant (aka roselle) makes a wonderful jam but now there's a new variety that's larger and requires less sugar.
tropicalhousegarden.com tropicalhousegarden.com
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There are quite a few native hibiscus (rosellas), especially in tropical and subtropical QLD. I've taken photos of one at the Mt. Annan Botanical Garden which is still awaiting compilation into a proper article.
 
A few minor edits today as I compile the mass of material from my two recent field trips to Perth, WA, and Eden, NSW. Anyone who is interested may read my Perth escapades in my substack post, "Wanderings in Whadjuk Country." The Eden part is currently being compiled the same way. I think I encountered in excess of 35 edible native plants, some of which are already on the list (e.g. karkalla, samphire, kangaroo apples, edible nectars), and many await compilation into new articles. I also encountered many common edible weeds like plantain, blackberry nighshade, cape gooseberry and sea rocket.

I added two important references to the series introduction to correct the lack of WA edibles:

Vivienne Hansen & John Horsfall (2019). Noongar Bush Tucker: Bush Food Plants and Fungi of the South-West of Western Australia. Crawley: UWA Publications.​
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This beautifully illustrated book is a recent and important addition to a bush food forager’s arsenal. It details more than 250 plants and fungi found in traditional Noongar country in the south-west portion of Western Australia, from Geraldton to Esperance and the mountainous region inland between. Caution is recommended, however: Western Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 makes it an offense to harvest any part of any native Western Australian plant.​
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and
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Vivienne Hansen & John Horsfall (2016). Noongar Bush Medicine: Medicinal Plants of the South-West of Western Australia. Crawley: UWA Publications.​
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This beautifully illustrated guide to Noongar herbalism is a critical resource for Western Australian plants. Limited to the Noongar of south-west Western Australia and cross-pollinated with much colonial herbalism, this book sets a standard for other First Nation tribes to compile and preserve for all time their own bush remedies. Adequately referenced with an ample bibliography to take the interested herbalist further.​
 
Part 2 of my holiday has now been completed: "Foraging in the Garden of Eden."

There is waaaaay more material in this part, representing 4 days' travel, than during my 6-day trip to WA. I was truly astounded as to how much, both in variety and quantity, I found.
 
JP 1983 said:
Kurrajong/Bottle Trees is now live [HERE].

[Edit: I managed to condense the references to fit on the original page.]
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"Australian rural children are also well aware of the effects of suddenly stuffing several open pods down the back of someone's shirt." This I can confirm! Just seeing the photos of the open seed pods gives me the itchies!
 
Grandmother Goose said:
"Australian rural children are also well aware of the effects of suddenly stuffing several open pods down the back of someone's shirt." This I can confirm! Just seeing the photos of the open seed pods gives me the itchies!
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i shoved that one in there for you GG!
 
I'm currently working on a few weed articles, hopefully I'll get one of them up by the end of the month. In the meantime I've put some of my recent exploits on my Substack page [HERE], including finally finding a native grape worth harvesting (hint: I found three separate species in the same place, all fruiting at the same time!)
 
I recently went on holidays to the Central North coast of NSW (Kempsey/Macleay River valley area). The write-up of my exploits is [HERE].

I will have another post up next weekend for my tropical 2nd week in Cairns. I felt truly out of my league in the tropical rainforests of northern Queensland, let me tell you! But I did find a few amazing scores I never thought I would find in a casual 4 night trip with minimal bushwalking time.

Also hoping to chip away at a few new pages of individual plants.

Cheers,
JP.
 
That looks amazing! I loved the pictures - the quality of them is great too.

Sounds like you have more great times ahead of you, and I look forward to those posts :D
 
Kinda lagging on my updates here.

Since my tropical expedition to Cairns I have made four other trips. The writeups are as follows:

Urban Bush Food Foraging - A local trip in my area.

Dharawal Delights - A trip to the Australian Botanical Gardens in Campbelltown where I continue to be amazed by the native flora!

Traversing Tidbillaga - A trip in December 2023 to the snowy mountains; its mostly flower pron but there's some common and less common edibles up there.

Bunya Bliss - my very recent (like, in the last 2 weeks!) exploits collecting bunya nuts around Sydney. Super fun, those!!!

I probably am not going to update the main article here any more; it is too exhausting to post in two places. However I will try to remember to post updates to my exploits and start cross-linking new pages over to my Bush Food Forager Substack (which is and will remain free reading, just like here). Anyone who wishes to keep up to date with my foraging is best to subscribe over there.

Cheers and happy foraging!
JP
 
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