No.76 April 2003

Notes from Toxic tales the It is extremely dangerous to experiment with bush tucker. Botanist and bush Editor tucker enthusiast Tony Irvine recalls an incident which reminded him of the importance of being cautious. Welcome to the new look “Fellow botanist, Bernie Hyland, and I examined my heart beat and Tropical Topics. From now on those issues dealing with wet had just returned to the laboratory at immediately gave me an injection of tropics material will feature the CSIRO in Atherton with a collection of atropine to stimulate my heart muscle new design which includes a Triunia erythrocarpa fruit. The as the effect of the toxin in the seed special ‘Fact sheet’ in the species is related to macadamia; it is in was to slow my heart beat down. I was centre pages. the same family, Proteaceae. The fruit sent straight to hospital where they is spherical, 18-40 mm in diameter, and monitored my condition. I received As mentioned in last year’s survey, the format of the orange red with a longitudinal groove one more injection overnight when newsletter has also changed on one side. The flesh is white and they felt that my heart rate had and now includes a greater contains an ovoid brown seed, about dropped too low for safety. The next variety of articles, rather than 15 mm wide. morning when I woke up, I walked the most material relating to a three kilometres home. specific theme (although “Bernie nibbled a small part of the ‘orange’– dry tropics – issues seed, said it tasted okay and then spat “The total amount of the seed that I will remain theme-based). it out. I also nibbled a small part of the ate was equivalent to about nine cubic Material included reflects the seed. It had a similar taste to millimetres or 0.3 grams in weight. I interests of readers who macadamia. I rolled it around in my was very fortunate the sampling had returned their survey forms and mouth for a few minutes and decided, occurred at the office. If I had indicated topics on which they as it had a pleasant taste, to swallow it. consumed it in the bush, I could have would like more information. been in severe trouble. Imagine what There was a strong interest in “I then went to do some sowing of would have happened if I had ingested bush tucker and bush seed in the potting shed. While I was a whole seed on the basis of its medicine, so this newsletter working, I began belching a bit and features a ‘Fact sheet’ on bush pleasant taste. tucker in the centre as well as a then felt that I needed to go to the special warning on page one. toilet but I didn’t perform. I felt briefly “The is commonly known as The next green issue will that I wanted to vomit but again didn’t ‘spice bush’, a name that is also feature a fact sheet on bush perform. So I continued my seed applied to Triunia youngiana, a medicine. sowing. It was an overcast day and a species from southern comfortable temperature but I noticed and northern New South Wales with Contents: that my arms were beginning to sweat. which it was confused. This is a Page 1: Toxic tales I thought that was strange as it wasn’t dangerously misleading name for both Page 2: Death on the roads very hot. Within minutes, sweating species as it suggests edibility and Creature feature: Bandicoots began to increase over all parts of my human use. A far better Page 3: Palms body and shortly my clothes became for T. erythrocarpa, based on the Weed corner: Limnocharis Pages 4&5: Bush tucker saturated. I looked as though I had above experience, would be ‘toxic seed Page 6: Questions & answers dived fully clothed into water for a ’. On looking through an array of Sideline: The acid-eaters swim. It was at this time, that I thought references on common names, I cannot Tourist Talk I should seek some medical attention. find any other plant in with Page 7: Out and about this common name, which makes the Page 8: Bookshelf “While waiting at the doctor’s case for its use more compelling. It surgery I was sweating so much I goes to show that pleasant tastes can began to shiver from loss of heat. As be deceptive.” soon as the doctor saw me, he Cutting the road toll How many animals die on our roads? Dr Miriam Goosem of the Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre set out to put a figure on it. She chose four stretches of road, each half a kilometre long. Two of them were straight and the other two had curves, which served to slow down traffic. She walked along these roads every week for over three years, picking up dead vertebrates. Just 2km of roads yielded more than 4000 dead vertebrates calling cards – footprints on patches of sand in the middle. during the 38-month study. Of these, 500 were mammals, 3060 So far, possums, pademelons, rodents and a number of amphibians, 450 reptiles and about 90 . More deaths ground birds have been recorded. Feral cat prints have been occurred near gullies and creeks which are presumably found but, thankfully, they are rare and these predators don’t popular gathering and crossing points – and potentially good seem to be frequenting the tunnels. places to provide underpasses. Mortality also increased on roads with narrow clearings – animals are more inhibited On the Mission Beach to El Arish road, where too many about crossing wide roads. are hit by vehicles, the Department of Main Roads has used optical illusion to slow traffic. The road has Although it would seem that animals are therefore safer next been widened, but a red colouring in the bitumen at the edges to wide roads, there are also serious disadvantages. Both gives the impression of a dirt shoulder. Believing the road is wide roads and powerline corridors act as barriers, preventing narrower than it is, drivers go more slowly. However, if animals, particularly small mammals, from moving to other necessary, they have plenty of room to pull over. Paler territories to breed. Populations then become increasing bitumen marks crossings and rumble strips across isolated from each other and the animals may fail to breed and the road on either side encourage drivers to slow down. On die out, or they may inbreed, reducing genetic diversity. the Mission Beach to Tully road diagonal bars at each side of the road give the impression that it is narrower than it is. In A number of strategies are being tried to allow animals to addition, white lines across the road near cassowary cross roads safely. In several places rope bridges have been crossings serve to slow traffic. Occurring at decreasing built across roads and are being used by arboreal animals intervals, they give drivers the impression of speed and have such as possums (see Tropical Topics 74 p7). been shown to slow traffic by up to 11kmh. When the East Evelyn road, near Millaa Millaa, was being upgraded the Department of Main Roads included three special underpasses. They have been furnished with logs, rocks, branches and ropes to provide cover from predators and off-ground comfort for arboreal species. Areas adjacent to the entrances are being revegetated to give animals a safe, covered approach. Users of the tunnels are leaving their

Creature feature: bandicoots

Bandicoots are often mistaken for rats – but actually more closely resemble rabbits. They are about the size of rabbits, they hop like rabbits and they breed even faster than rabbits. Unlike rabbits, however, bandicoots are native marsupials. population found at the tip of Cape York. (Southern brown Their fur is brown, their noses long and their tails short – or bandicoots, (I. obesulus) are found in southern Australia.) often missing, bitten off during aggressive encounters between the rather territorial and solitary adults. Bandicoots breed often and have the shortest pregnancy of any animal. The young are born just 12 and a half days after Bandicoots forage at night, digging conical holes in the their parents mate (rabbits are born after 30 days), two to four ground with their strong, clawed forefeet. They then probe the tiny newborns finding their way into their mother’s pouch to holes with long noses in search of invertebrates such as continue their development. During this journey they are beetle grubs and worms. They also eat soft roots, berries, attached by long umbilical cords to a rudimentary placenta grass seed and other vegetable matter. By day they snooze in within the mother’s womb – an unusual feature in marsupials, leafy nests on the ground. found only in bandicoots and koalas. The mother’s pouch opens backwards, a design which prevents it from becoming Three species are found in the wet tropics. The commonly filled with dirt while she is digging for food. Females can seen northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus) (below) produce their first litter at the age of four to five months, is at home in cleared areas, lawns and cane fields. The long- repeating the production every seven weeks. nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta) (right) prefers rainforest and higher areas but also frequents gardens and compost Rapid reproduction is necessary because bandicoots appear heaps. The southern brown bandicoot (I. obesulus on the menu of a number of predators including peninsulae) has recently been pythons, dingos, goshawks and discovered in sclerophyll owls. They are also a favoured woodland at Lamb Range, host of ticks, but are west of Cairns. This is apparently immune to the thought to be an toxins which cause extension of the paralysis in other animals.

22 Palms Palms are strongly associated with the tropics. In fact, they can grow in some relatively temperate climates, their limit being about 40 degrees latitude north or south. Here, in the wet tropics, we have an interesting abundance of these lovely – about half of Australia’s 57 palm species grow in rainforest. The living, growing part of a palm is at (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) is actually flower stems, the top of the trunk with the trunk very similar but its feathery are which may eventually functioning rather like an extension of green underneath instead of white or bear flowers and the root system. Most can be grey and its flowers are pinkish instead edible fruit. The real pruned at the trunk and continue to live of white. purpose for the but if the top of a single-trunk palm is hooks is to snare a cut off the plant dies. Fan palm ( Licuala suitable support ramsayi) forests, where for their Palms adopt a number of these lovely plants upwardly growth forms. Some have grow in colonies, are mobile climbing. a single trunk, some are among the most picturesque Prickly sheaths clumping and others are palms of the wet tropics. Each enclose pliable rattan scrambling. plant has a single trunk topped with stems which can be used for large, circular leaves, up to 2m in basket and furniture making. These Alexandra palm diameter, split into segments. Although plants do not fit many people’s (Archontophoenix alexandrae) slow-growing – plants grown in resort stereotypical image of a palm but their grows commonly throughout the gardens are generally shrub-like – it can characteristic feathery fronds are a wet tropics from sea-level to about eventually reach 20m in height. Fan giveaway. 1200m. It is particularly abundant in palms prefer swampy lowland positions. swampy areas where it enjoys periodic Although often grouped together, flooding. The red fruits, held on Wait-a-while palms (Calamus spp.) are bunches of stalks, are a popular and notorious scrambling plants of the wet cycads and palms are not related. reliable food for birds notably the pied tropics. Their searching, hooked stems Cycads, despite their palm-like imperial-pigeon which migrates to breed have stopped many a bushwalker in appearance, are ancient non- in Australia in summer while the palms their tracks, causing them to wait a while flowering plants while palms are are fruiting. The Bangalow palm for release. These whip-like tentacles are more modern and produce flowers. Weed corner: Limnocharis Some weeds are well-known for the problems they have caused – most responsible gardeners are aware of the evils of lantana, Singapore daisy and thunbergia (blue sky vine). The problems caused by carelessly discarded ornamental aquarium plants, such as salvinia, are obvious for all to see where they have covered the surface of freshwater lakes with dense mats of vegetation. Less well-known are the sleepers – flowing water. Limnocharis flava particular concern, several have been garden plants which have the potential anchors itself in mud at the bottom of found growing wild in the to cause problems but haven’t got out freshwater lakes and waterways, the Mulgrave River, near of control yet. Many of these are stems and leaves emerging up to a metre Babinda. In Townsville, a environmental timebombs – but there is above the water level. It has large oval- sizeable wild still a chance to stop them if we are shaped leaves (left) and five to 15 population has been aware of their appearance, keep a sharp yellow, cup-shaped flowers (right). found in the Black eye out for them and inform the River area, to the authorities if we do. The plant was discovered in the north of the city, and Centenary Lakes in Cairns in June 2001. another in the city in Limnocharis flava is a plant which is It has since been found in a freshwater Anderson Park, near creating particularly grave concerns. creek in Smithfield, north of Cairns, and Pimlico High School. There Native to South America, this water in cultivation, including a pond at the is concern that some may plant has caused major problems Cairns Casino. People are known to have been distributed through when introduced to North have unwittingly taken plants from gardening networks. America and Asia, Centenary Lakes to put in their own clogging waterways gardens and there are fears that it could There is still a chance to control the and drainage become popular in ‘Balinese-style’ water spread of this extremely dangerous systems. Each plant gardens. plant. If you find any, please contact the can produce a Centre for Wet Tropics Agriculture, Ph: million seeds a During the last 12 months a few more (07) 4046 1143 or (07) 4046 1111. year, which plants have been found in ponds in the move easily with Cairns to Port Douglas district and, of

33 Bush tucker Bush tucker has become big business. Restaurants are serving entire menus based on Australian native foods and it is now possible to buy a number of preparations made from native plants in supermarkets. Davidson plum (Davidsonia Cheesefruit (Morinda citrifolia) has a wide distribution, pruriens) produces large blue-black growing in north Queensland, New South Wales, plum-like fruit on the trunk and and Western Australia branches. Although very bitter, these as well as many parts of Asia and the fruits make excellent jam and a ‘full- Pacific. White flowers, opening at flavoured, dry, red wine’*. They are different times, form a cluster which also being used as a flavouring in eventually becomes a large compound commercial yoghurt, and can add fruit with a distinctive appearance. flavour and colour to icecream, Up to 8cm across, it is pale drinks and sauces. The juice can green with a bumpy, shiny even be used in the place of vinegar surface. The fruit is edible, in salad dressing. but usually eaten unripe *A recipe for the wine can be found because it has a strong, in North Queensland Native Plants unpleasant smell like rotting published by the Society for Growing Australian Plants. cheese when ripe. Devotees Wines can also be made from the fruits of lilly pillies say it is perfectly palatable, ( spp.), carabeen (Aceratium spp.) and tamarind as long as you hold your (Diploglottis spp.) nose, tasting of blue cheese with a touch of hot mustard. It is sometimes combined with macadamia nuts and sold The flowers of a very large number of Australian plants as a salad dressing. The fruit has a high vitamin C content are pollinated by birds and produce and is said to have medicinal benefits. abundant nectar to attract them. Humans too, enjoy this sweet treat, The fruits of lemon aspen (Acronychia acidula) are very obtained by licking the flowers of sour, but can be stewed with sugar, used in tarts and grevilleas, banksias, tea trees, puddings, made into jams and sauces or the juice used in eucalypts and even grass salad dressings. It is a popular flavouring in commercial trees. Swishing the flowers in yoghurt made in north Queensland. a container of water produces a sweet drink – or soak them for a few hours in the fridge (to stop them from fermenting). Alternatively, Fair dues dip a bunch of flowers in your billy tea instead of using There is concern that indigenous people, who did all the sugar. original research to discover what is edible and what is not – and a lot of our rainforest plants are extremely toxic The yellow, white or pink flowers of the native – are not going to benefit from the economic boom. rosella (Hibiscus heterophyllus), can be eaten raw in salads – although they have a rather slimy texture and may carry a However, some projects aim to turn that around. Six load of insects. This shrub, found in indigenous TAFE trainees have been employed in coastal and drier rainforest, is a Innisfail to collect rainforest fruits and propagate them versatile one. The flower can be for a bush tucker nursery and orchard. The plan is to eaten raw or stewed and made into jam plant these beside exotic fruit trees so the fruit can – hence the common name. The leaves can be eaten raw when young or cooked and used in the eventually be harvested and processed for sale by the same way as spinach or cabbage. The roots can be Mamu Aboriginal Corporation. cooked and used like parsnips. Flowers and young leaves of the related, and similar, cotton tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus)- A scholarship at James Cook University in Cairns is found in coastal districts, can also be eaten. being offered for an Indigenous post-graduate student to work for three years on the domestication of bush tucker The yellow flowers of the kapok tree (Cochlospermum species with commercial potential. The project will spp.) are edible and said to be tasty, if slimy, to eat. They involve interaction with the Djabugay Community at have a reasonably high vitamin C content. The main root Kuranda, west of Cairns. can also be eaten after roasting. tar tree Semecarpus The ( Toxic plants australiensis) is related to abound in the rainforest, but many such the cashew tree. It as black beans and cycad seeds have been used as produces yellow or red staple foods by Aboriginal people, following a lengthy fleshy fruits (which, processing involving cooking, scraping and leaching strictly speaking, are with running water. The abundance of these foods and thickened stems) with a seed the high carbohydrate content make this worthwhile. (actually the fruit) attached to the Excess, processed food could be wrapped and stored end of each. This tree produces a toxic sap which can in cool streams. Use of these toxic foods may have cause severe blistering of the skin and should never be enabled large groups to gather for ceremonial and touched. The ‘fruits’ and ‘seeds’ are also toxic. However, social purposes. the latter can be eaten after processing. The poisonous skin must be burnt off – taking care not to be affected by No one knows where this knowledge originated or the smoke – and peeled off without touching. The cooked when, but recent archaeological investigations have seeds are very tasty. The fleshy orange ‘fruit’ parts are discovered nut shells dating back 1000 years alongside said to be sweet and are eaten, but only after baking. The artefacts which were probably used for processing. A skin may be toxic and Aboriginal people when handling it number of these shells were of toxic species, such as protect their hands with clay. This is definitely a tree to be black bean, black and yellow walnut and black pine. wary of. Their use may have encouraged settlement within rainforests; while there is evidence of occupation at Mt Wild yams are the potatoes and carrots of bush food. Mulligan, west of Mareeba, 35,000 years ago, Long yam (Dioscorea transversa) is a common traditional investigation of rainforest sites have provided dates of staple food across the tropics where it grows at rainforest around 5000 years ago. Did use of toxic foods as edges. The plant is a twining vine with heart-shaped staples allow occupation of rainforests? leaves (right). The yams are said to be at their best when the leaves have turned yellow. Finding the root involves searching for the point Lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) is a where the plant enters the ground and bushy shrub with lemon-scented leaves then digging down for maybe a metre. The which contain citral, an essential oil used top of the tuber and the vine stem are replanted in perfumed soaps and cooking. Indeed, it for future crops. Small yams may be eaten raw, makes up 90 percent of the oil, compared but most are boiled or roasted in the fire or with just 3 percent in lemon oil. Endemic oven after being washed and rubbed to to Queensland, it can survive as far south remove the hairs on the skin. Not all yams as Melbourne and is now being grown are as edible. Some are toxic and must be commercially. Fresh leaves can be used to make lemon tea. leached in water before they can be eaten. Dried leaves can be used to flavour fish or chicken, in deserts such as custards and sorbets, and to make tangy sauces or replace lemon grass in Asian recipes. An indigenous QPWS staff member recalls that “Christmas wasn’t Christmas without a brush turkey egg,” and still Kernels of the widespread candlenut tree (Aleurites hankers after this taste from her childhood. The eggs were moluccana) are about 60 percent oil. In many countries used in Christmas puddings but apparently tasted best this is extracted and used in paints and varnishes, as a after being baked in the coals of the fire. Weighing an wood preservative and for lighting. The nuts themselves average 180g each, this took an hour or so. will burn with a sooty flame and can be pulverised and moulded into a candle. Aboriginal people found them useful when lighting fires in wet weather and the oil is There are about sixty lilly pilly species in Australia, all useful for fixing ochre for painting. with edible fruit. Riberry is the name given to the fruit of Syzygium luehmannii, one of the tastier of the rainforest The nuts are also extremely nutritious, containing more lilly pillies and one which is finding popularity as a than 4200 micrograms of thiamine per hundred grams. Only commercial bush food with trees now being grown in certain processed yeast products such as vegemite orchards. A large proportion of the fruits are seedless so contain more. However, the raw nuts have a reputation for can be used whole and are popular due to their red colour causing stomach upsets and are avoided by some and spicy flavour – the plant is related Aboriginal groups. Others, however, roast them in the fire to render them to the clove tree which is a Syzygium Safety First species from Indonesia. The fruits can edible. This destroys a toxin in the oil, As is the case with fungi, while although some nuts contain cyanide, so be made into jam or sauces to be served some rainforest plants are edible with meat or with puddings or ice cream. should be treated with care. The nuts others can be deadly poisonous, are ground and used in Asian cooking, They can also be cooked in tarts or even in tiny quantities. Even used raw in fruit salads. notably in laksa. For Aboriginal experienced bush tucker people, the rotting wood of enthusiasts have been caught out this tree is known to be a Cedar bay cherry (Eugenia (see page 1). Do not experiment. reinwardtiana) produces a red cherry- good source of very popular grubs – edible sized fruit which is one of the nicest Please also bear in mind that all bush fruits. It has a large seed and a moth larvae. plants and animals in national Sometimes the trees thin, but very tasty flesh which can be parks are protected and cannot be eaten raw. were ring-barked to collected without a permit. hasten this process. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Sideline Q How do I tell the larvae of a cane chinensis. It occurs from south-east beetle from other insect larvae, for Asia to Australia and is known as The acid-eaters example Mueller’s stag beetle? burrflower tree, kadam, kelampayan, laran and labula depending in which It is well-known that plants breathe in air through the stomata – or pores – in their A The most commonly found larvae in country it is growing. It belongs to the leaves. The carbon dioxide component the garden are either rhinoceros same family () as is then split into carbon and oxygen. beetles or cane beetles. The orientalis and has similar flowers. In Using energy captured from sunlight by rhinoceros beetle larva has a Australia it occurs on the east coast the green part of the leaves translucent body with fine reddish about north of Ingham. Some was cut (chlorophyll) and hydrogen derived hairs all over it, a black head capsule for timber in the early days and used from water, the plant then produces and very short legs. It can grow up to as a replacement for pine. sugar glucose – food. The process is 80mm long. The cane beetle larva has known as photosynthesis. milky/cream coloured body with a Acknowledgements to Garry brown head capsule and extra long Sankowski of Yuruga Nursery During the night, when sunlight is not legs. Stag beetle larvae are quite available, plants continue to breathe but different, with Mueller’s found in Q Is the majority consume more oxygen than decomposing logs. cannibalistic carbon dioxide. (The quantities are so behaviour small it is not necessary to remove Acknowledgements to Sue between frog flowers or plants from the bedroom, as Hasenpusch, Australian Insect Farm species normal? was the custom in the past.) For example a Q Please identify the difference white-lipped tree However, there are some plants which between Leichhardt tree and frog eating rocket or continue to absorb carbon dioxide Leichhardt pine. I have seen both. One other green tree frogs? during the night. Most of these are has ‘corky’ bark, the other smooth. plants which are prone to dehydration. Both have golf ball-size globular A Adult frogs are active predators They include many cacti, certain bromeliads (including pineapple) and flowers (below). eating mainly insects but also small lizards, snakes, birds, mice and other native rock lilies (Dendrobium spp. – frogs. Basically anything which moves below). If they open their pores to is likely to end up as food. It is not absorb carbon dioxide during the day they are in danger of losing water. So, Leichhardt unusual for frogs to eat smaller they do so during the night instead. tree species and juveniles of their own A The kind. Leichhardt tree is Nauclea orientalis, Golden orchid Unfortunately, frogs will also attempt Dendrobium discolor which grows across to eat cane toads. A Savannah Guide the north of Australia from Undara recently investigated the and is particularly source of a scream heard from the common in lowland rainforests close bottom of one of the lava tubes and to streams. It is also called found a green tree frog, blown up like cheesewood and sometimes, a balloon, screaming and rolling in confusingly, Leichhardt pine. It has a agony – with a small cane toad deeply furrowed bark. hanging out of its mouth. It did not live long enough to learn from its The Leichhardt pine with the smooth mistake. Of course, during the hours of darkness, bark is probably Anthocephalus there is no sunlight to provide energy for the conversion of carbon dioxide into sugar. The plants, therefore, store the carbon dioxide in the form of acid, TOURIST TALK converting it back into carbon dioxide gas the next day when it can be utilised. ENGLISH GERMAN JAPANESE However, if rainfall is high, and bush im Wald yasei no dehydration not a threat, they can switch to normal daytime tucker Eßbares tabemono photosynthesising mode. jam Marmelade jam tuber Knolle kaikei Although botanist, Benjamin Heyne, observed in 1813 that the leaves of leach auslaugen kosu certain succulents tasted tangy in the botanist Botaniker shokubutsu gakushya morning but not later in the day, the edible eßbar shokuyou ni naru mechanism has only recently been understood. palm Palme yashi rabbit Kaninchen usagi Read more about this, and other things that plants do at night, in After dark by underpass Tunnel chikadou Tim Entwisle in Nature Australia Vol 27 No 5, Spring 2002.

66 Out and about The late wet Caterpillars of the white cedar moth season has led (Leptocneria reducta) can, at this time to an increase of year, completely strip the leaves from in numbers of white cedar trees (Melia azedarach). many butterfly Unfortunately for humans, the species, as fresh caterpillars are covered with long, growth on host dense, irritating hairs which cause skin plants supports more rashes. Since the trees are commonly caterpillars. Australian rustics seem to planted as ornamental specimens, in Pothos (Pothos longipes), a common be particularly abundant at the moment, streets, parks and gardens, contact with rainforest vine, produces bunches of their bright colours catching the eye as the caterpillars is common. bright red fruit during the wetter they flitter around in the sunshine, close months. The trunks of many trees, to the ground, in glades and rainforest Feeding at night, the caterpillars hide particularly in wet upland forests, are margins. The uppersides of their wings during the day in crevices or in shelter surrounded with a complex network of are dominated by a wide, golden orange around the base of the tree. One way to pothos stems and leaves which climb band bordered with a contrasting dark prevent them from reaching the foliage with the aid of clinging roots. brown band on the wing edge and a is to encircle the trunk with sticky tape lighter brown band next to the body. (sticky side out) or a metal collar with an Unlike many vines, which push upwards overhanging lip which encourages the looking for brighter light, this plant is The caterpillars feed on fresh shoots of caterpillars to collect underneath. able to flourish in shade. To do this brown birch (Scolopia braunii) and successfully, it has an unusual method native coffee bush (Breynia While the moths are for gathering light. Each flat is oblongifolia). They are an attractive endemic to Australia, found attached to an equally flat stem, just a green with a yellow stripe, grey mottling from Cooktown to New narrow ‘waist’ indicating where one and rows of thin, branched spines. The South Wales, the white stops and the other starts. Both parts pupa, which often hangs down from a cedar tree grows are equipped with photosynthetic cells mature leaf, is also bright green with throughout Asia. In to collect light and convert it to food. black spines attached to silvery spots. If Australia it touched, the pupa reacts vigorously, produces clusters Inconspicuous white flowers swaying back and forwards. of yellow fruits (right) from eventually become oval red about March to fruits, each about 1cm long, Tropical Topics newsletters are which are eaten by birds such as coming on line! Some of the more June. Although cassowaries, fruit-pigeons and recent issues can be found, as PDFs, birds feed eagerly Victoria’s riflebirds. They are edible for on the Environmental Protection on these fruits, they humans, but are lacking in taste. Agency’s website at: http:// are toxic to humans. www.epa.qld.gov.au/environment/ park/heritage/ and select Wet Tropics at the top of the screen. Grassland melomys tend to start breeding about March, though the exact timing ‘Orange’ issues, dealing with dry may be influenced by rainfall. These little native rodents are among the most tropics/savanna topics (Nos. 64, 68, common in Queensland. They live in open grassland and in woodland where there 71 and 73) can be found on the is a grassy understorey but are now abundant in cane fields where they cause Cooperative Research Centre for extensive damage by nibbling on the cane. Tropical Savanna Management site at http://savanna.ntu.edu.au/ Nests are neat, spherical structures, 20-30cm in diameter, constructed from grass publications/tropical_topics.html leaves and woven around erect grass stems, usually about a metre from the If you would prefer to receive ground. Often there are two entrances. The female usually produces two to three Tropical Topics electronically, young but as many as five have been found. If the family is disturbed the babies saving both paper and postage, send cling tight to their mother’s nipples as she flees from the nest – a useful survival an e-mail to the editor at strategy in case of grassfires. [email protected] and you will be sent the newsletter in In order to breed, the melomys mother needs to feed PDF format. Please also include the on protein-rich grass seeds; sugar cane is not enough. postal address to which your Cane farmers have therefore been finding that if they newsletter is sent so you can be shade out grassy margins of the cane fields with native taken off the mailing list. trees they have fewer rats in their cane.

77 BOOKSHELF

Bush Tucker This booklet introduces the Jirrbal and Girramay people of Jumbun Australia’s Wild Food Harvest Mullunburra people and describes (1992) Tim Low traditional gathering, hunting, fishing, Angus and Robertson (1992) cooking and other activities. These booklets describe bush food use in Murray Upper, near Cardwell Bush Food A Guide to Traditional Aboriginal Aboriginal Food and Herbal Medicine Rainforest Plant Use Grow your own Bushfoods Jennifer Isaacs The Kuku Yalanji, Mossman Gorge Keith and Irene Smith Weldon Publishing (1989) Bamanga Bubu Ngadimunku Inc. New Holland Publisher (1999) (1995) Useful Wild Plants in Australia This book includes information about A.B. and J.W. Cribb This booklet looks at 24 different the plants, growing tips, cooking Collins (1981) plants and their uses as well as giving suggestions and recipes. notes on Kuku Yalanji language and All the above books look at bush information on rainforest calendar Website: www.teachers.ash.org.au/ tucker from all over Australia. plants. bushtucker/index.html This site has numerous interesting The Mullunburra Garrimal Wuju Wabungga links, including a good one to the People of the Mulgrave River Summer fruit of the rainforest Queensland branch of the Society for Nungabana, George Davis Eel cooking in the rainforest Growing Australian Plants (SGAP). Cassowary Publication

This newsletter was produced by the Environmental Protection Agency Opinions expressed in Tropical with funding from the Wet Tropics Management Authority. Topics are not necessarily those FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT... of the Environmental Protection Agency. Wet Tropics Management Authority While all efforts have been made Stella Martin (For general information on the Wet to verify facts, the Environmental The Editor Tropics World Heritage Area only.) Protection Agency takes no Tropical Topics PO Box 2050 responsibility for the accuracy of Environmental Protection Agency CAIRNS QLD 4870 information supplied in Tropical PO Box 2066 Topics. (10 - 12 McLeod St) Ph: (07) 4052 0555 Fax: (07) 4031 1364 © The State of Queensland. CAIRNS QLD 4870 Website: www.wettropics.gov.au Environmental Protection Agency Ph: (07) 4046 6674 2003. Fax: (07) 4046 6604 e-mail: [email protected]

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