Nyoongar Food Plant Species Prepared by Peter Coppin, March-2008

Common Name: Botanical Name: Uses: Notes: S: Coastal Plants Bain Carpobrotus virescens Sweet, succulent fruits are eaten fresh or dried. Juice from leaves used to treat burns, scalds and stings 1 Seaberry saltbush Rhagodia baccata Cooked leaves are succulent and tender. Berries are edible but very bitter Grey / Coast saltbush Atriplex spp. (eg, A. cinera) Leaves boiled as a vegetable Bower spinach Tetragonia implexicoma Succulent leaves cooked like spinach. Salty, sweet fruits are edible Also called Barilla – check how far south Tassel bush Leucopogon parviflorus Very small fruits – mainly a ‘snack food’ Coast beard heath Leucopogon verticillatis Tiny lemony tasting fruits (snack food) Also called White currants Western boobialla Myoporum montanum Small bitterly aromatic and salty sweet fruits are a snack food. White gum from stems Also called water bush, Native myrtle, used as a glue, and leaves are medicinal. Boomeralla, Native daphne Freshwater Plants Nardoo Marsilea drummondii The sporocarps were ground and the husks removed, leaving a flour that was baked – Probably not used by Noongars very low nutritional value Marsh cress Rorippa palustris Used as a leaf salad In WA, but not indigenous? Water ribbons Triglochin spp. Starchy tubers eaten raw or roasted, the latter ground for babies or the elderly Also called Swamp arrowgrass or Creek lily Rushes & Sedges Bulrush Typha spp. High in starch, underground stems were sometimes eaten raw Fibres also used for string River club rush Bolboschoensis spp. Young underground stems are starchy and sweet with a coconut flavour Club rushes Eleocharis spacelata Underground stems eaten for starch Also called Bulrushes Kerbein Lepidosperma gladiatum Part of the base of the stem can be eaten raw or roasted all year round, but best when In WA, but not indigenous? soil is moist Main use was for making rope and string 3 Tall spike rush Schoenoplectus litoralus, S. validus Underground stems are roasted and hammered for eating Usage only recorded with Aborigines in North 4 Queensland The Grasses Panicum spp. These grasses are important native grain, staple food for outback Aborigines. The tiny Research so far has failed to determine how and seeds are ground to flour and roasted or baked (damper) many species are indigenous to the Nyoongar Eragrotis spp. Seeds are easily ground into flour for roasting, and the loaves could be stored for long areas, if any periods Native plantain Plantago spp. There are 24 species across Australia. Heavy rains drench the seeding stalks resulting in NSW Aborigines bruised the seeds to make a swollen balls of jelly, a herbal cure for constipation kind of porridge The Yams Dioscorea hastifolia A highly favoured staple food, often difficult to find and dig up. Some species are toxic More prevalent in coastal areas north of Perth and need to be grated and soaked. Some, such as the Warrine, could be roasted and eaten Born, or Blood roots Haemodorum spp. A number of species grow in the SW. The swollen stem bases have a mild onion flavour Also called Mardya or Bohn and are eaten raw or roasted, the latter often pounded together with bland foods to improve flavour Milkmaids Burchardia umbellata The crisp juicy tubers have a pleasant raw potato taste Early nancy Wurmbea spp. The tiny tubers of some species were eaten, though many seem unpalatable Golden stars Hypoxis spp. The roasted tubers of some species were eaten, though others are irritant and inedible Chocolate lilies Dichopogon strictus The bland fibrous tubers are eaten raw Use only recorded with NT Aborigines and D. fimbriatus Twining fringed lily Thyosantus patersonii Watery tubers eaten raw Also called Tjunguri T. manglesianus In WA, the stems were rolled, baked, then ground to a powder and eaten with Eucalypt gum The Ground orchids Family ORCHIDACEAE Many Australian species are common, where the starchy tubers are important native foods. Eaten raw or roasted, flavours vary – starchy, watery, bitter or sweet Djubak Pyrorchis nigricans An important species for Nyoongar people Cranebills Geranium spp. The dark red, very astringent taproots are cooked and eaten Also called native geranium Native gooseberry Physalis minima The tangy, flavoursome fruits are eaten raw In WA, but not indigenous? Bracken fern Pteridium esculentum A most important staple food, especially the roasted rhizomes. Emerging young shoots Sydney aborigines flavoured the shoots with were also eaten crushed ants Dodder laurel Cassytha spp. A ‘snack’ food, the resinous, sticky small fruits are eaten fresh but not very tasty Also called Devil’s twines The Heaths Family EPACRIDACEAE Literally dozens of species are edible and most likely used by Aboriginal peoples, but very Genera include: Acrotiche, Astroloma, little is recorded. The fruits are small to tiny in size, but the soft pulp is usually pleasantly Brachyloma, Cyathodes, Leucopogon, sweet. Species such as the native cranberry and the native currants are much better Lissanthe, Melichrus, Monotaca, known in the eastern states Pentachondra & Styphelia Cranberry heath Astroloma conotephoides The 1cm fruits are sweet and sticky In WA, but not indigenous? Common pin heath Styphelia tenuiflora The small berries are eaten fresh Kangaroo apples Solanum spp. The soft berries have a sickly sweet taste and are eaten fresh In WA, but not indigenous? Geebungs Persoonia spp. The sweet pulpy, but fibrous fruits are eaten fresh. Kimberly Aborigines sun dried the Also called Cadgeegurrup fruits, then they were roasted, crushed and stored in paperbark The Zamias & Cycads Families CYCADACEAE and Zamiaceae Other names include Zamia palms, Burrawangs Macrozamia riedlei and Wild pineapples Jeeriji/Burrawang The red fruits are quite toxic and there were various lengthy methods of processing. In The woolly substance at the base of the fronds WA, the red fruits were buried for a time, then crushed and soaked in water for days used as a fire tinder or as an absorbent fibre for before cooking hygienic purposes The Grasstrees 4 Mimidi Xanthorrea gracilis Flowers of Mimidi (and other grasstrees) produce copious nectar, often soaked in water to 5 make a sweet drink 6 Balga X. preseii Gum from flower spikes used to make cakes. Dried leaves used for torches and leaves thatched for huts. Black trunk resin used as a glue. Bardi grubs collected from dying plants The Banksias Banksia spp. The sweet nectar of many species can be sucked from the flowers, or the flowers soaked Of the 75 species, many occur in WA, and most in water, occasionally fermented for an alcoholic drink were utilised by local Aborigines 5 Bull banksia B. grandis The most used species by Nyoongar people. Dried flower stems used as carrying sticks 6? Mooja Nutsia floribunda Juicy and succulent root suckers are dug up and eaten. Slabs of wood were removed to Called the WA Christmas tree, Nyoongar people make shields, resulting raw sweet gum to ooze out, later gathered and eaten. Flowers are believe the spirits of dead people inhabit the trees soaked in water to make a sweet drink Yellow wood sorrel Oxalis spp. There are several Australian species of oxalis. The sour, lemony leaves were sometimes SA Aborigines dug the taproots of some species eaten raw as a salad. Taaruk Clematis linearifolia Its mass of tuberous roots are starchy are high in protein. They are roasted on coals then pounded to make a paste Pigweeds Portulaca oleracea Tiny black sees a staple outback food. Leaves and stems eaten raw, steamed, or ground Portulaca pilosa into paste. Roots could also be cooked and eaten Nipan, or Honeysuckle Capparis lasiantha The fruit pulp is sticky but pleasant A native caper Peppercress Lepidium spp. Leaves, seed pods and hammered stems are steamed and eaten – not popular but Not coastal 3 nutritious Weeping pittosporum Pittosporum phylliraeoides The fruit (seeds) are intensely bitter so rarely eaten. The gum from damaged bark can be Widespread across southern Australia, the usage eaten. The main use is medicinal, with seeds, leaves or wood used to treat colds, by aboriginals varies widely cramps, sprains, eczema and itching The Eucalypts Eucalypt & Corymbia spp. Apart from those mentioned below, there is a range of indigenous and naturalised species with a wide range of uses, particularly timber for tools and toys, shelter, medicinal uses and a source of edible insects and honeydews River gum E. camaldulensis Wandoo E. wandoo The sweet and juicy outer part of the roots of young trees was scraped off and eaten. Sweet flower nectar The Mistletoes Families Loranthaceae & Viscaceae, A ‘snack fruit’ with sweet but sticky pulp. Most species are rare on the coastal plain (due All require specific host trees and shrubs, and 6 Eg, Amyema spp. & Lysiana spp. to fires) also birds to spread the seeds 1 Nyilla_Nyilla Lysiana casuarinae A common species hosting on Salt sheoaks The Sandalwoods Exocarpos sparteus Sweet and palatable small green fruit Present in the SW???? Sandalwood Santalum lanceolatum Fruits are reasonably sweet and palatable, and dried fruits sometimes soaked and Only in drier areas reconstituted. Seeds sometimes roasted or ground into a paste. Quandong Santalum acuminatum Round, succulent fruits are a tasty snack, and the nuts are delicious when roasted. Also called Native peach, Dumbari, Jawirli, Pounded leaves sometimes used to treat diseases. Seed oil can be used as a skin Walku, Wanga, Wayanu, Wongil moisturiser Bluebell Billardiera hetrophylla One of three species confined to the SW, the fleshy fruits are edible when ripe Koolah Podocarpus drouynianus One of the largest edible fruits in the SW, it is flavourless and used only as a dietary supplement Pudjak Dryandra sessilis Flowers contain abundant nectar, either sucked from the flower or soaked in water to Also called Honey pots make a sweet drink The Wattleseeds Acacia spp. The Wattleseeds are an extremely common and important part of Aboriginal diets all A. colei across Australia, with over 30 species utilised. The nutritious seeds are very high in A. coriacea protein, and while some can be eaten raw, they are usually ground into a flour or a paste. A .kempeana Seeds also store very well A. ligulata Red-eyed wattle A. cyclops A good example of the many wattles, this species is very visible because of the colour. Seeds are collected and eaten, ground into a white chalky powder to bake cakes. Gum from stems and branches is also edible Wattle gum Acacia spp Gum exudes from the bark of many species can be eaten fresh, or blended with lerps and nectar as a drink, or to make a jelly The Saltbushes Ruby saltbush Enchylaena tomentose The tiny salty fruits are a snack food, sometimes soaked to make a tea. Low food value Soapbush Trymalium floribunum Leaves produce a lather similar to soap The Insects Many families, genera and species Many plant species are attacked by a range of insects, and either the insects or their Often termed ‘Manna” exudations are often utilised Lerps, scales & Psyllids Wood borers Ants

Other plants from the South-west or inland areas that need to be researched, so disregard these:

Common Name: Botanical Name: Uses: Notes: Myall Gidgee Acacia calcicola Red-eyed Wattle Acacia cyclops Dead Finish Acacia teragonophylla Acacia neurocarpa Silver Witchetty Acacia cuthbertsonii Indigofera spp. Roots hammered and placed in fresh or salt water as a fish poison Apple Bush Pterocaulon spp. Sniffing crushed aromatic leaves for congestion, etc Canarium australanum Eremofila longifolia Inhaling for general health and to bring on milk Euphorbia spp. Born (Bloodroots) Haemodorum spp. Spiny Fan Flower Scaviola spinescens Snake Vine, Caustic Vine Sarcostemma australe Tephrosia spp. A fish poison