Australian Plants Revealed: 65,000 years of traditional plant use and 250 years of science Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery 17 February to 17 April 2020
Banksia serrata (Saw Banksia) (MEL 583558) State Botanical Collection, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
In 1770 Lieutenant James Cook brought the Bark Endeavour to the east coast of Australia. This enabled the naturalist Joseph Banks and the botanist Daniel Solander to collect plants at each place they landed. These collections were taken to London to be examined and classified according to the Linnaeus system which Solander had learned as a protégé of Carl Linnaeus botanist, zoologist and physician in Sweden. Six specimens collected during that voyage are displayed in this exhibition along with 31 images of others, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Australia’s First Nations people had been sustained by Australian plants for food, medicine, tools and shelter for at least 65,000 years before these collections were made. Aunty Irene Norman, proud Wailwan/Wiradjuri woman and Elder from Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place, has provided the information and weavings that demonstrate the diverse use of native plants by our First Nations people in the many aspects of everyday life and culture. Traditional gathering baskets, seed pots and serving plates speak to the strong connections to Country and the complex knowledge systems that continue to be passed down through the generations. There remains such a lot to learn about how First Nations people utilised the plants many of which, including Eucalypts and Acacias, had evolved in the 33 million years since Australia separated from Gondwana creating our unique flora. In presenting this exhibition the Australian Plants Society-Victoria has aimed to respectfully seek help and listen to First Nations people to learn more about our flora. When the exhibition closes Australian Plant Society-Victoria will donate all the framed images to Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria. This will enable the Gardens to display images without risking damage to the precious specimens. The following images are a catalogue of contemporary photographs of the botanical species included in the exhibition but does not include images of the plant specimens collected by Banks and Solander.
Acknowledgements For financial support: Australian Plants Society-Victoria Australian Plants Society-Maroondah Group Australian Plants society-Keilor Plains Group
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria for permission to exhibit 6 specimens and 30 images from the Banks-Solander collection and particularly Dr Pina Milne, Manager Collections, Melbourne Herbarium for her assistance. Australian National Herbarium, Canberra for permission to display an image of Viola banksii. Rodger Elliot, Bruce Gray, David Jones and Chris Clarke for plant photographs for labels and Sandra Sanger for access to paintings from her collection for publicity artwork.
Photo: David Jones
Lygodium japonicum
In Australia the Japanese Climbing Fern grows in tropical areas of Western Australia, Northern Territory and
Queensland. It is widespread across Asian countries.
Use by First Nations people • Leaves are used for cleaning, scrubbing and stings • Young vines are used for weaving • Vines are used for stiff ropes
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Phragmites australis (Common Reed)
A vigorous, handsome bamboo-like member of the grass family. Found in all states and territories growing on the margins of ponds, pools and waterways in water to about two metres deep or in regularly inundated areas.
Use by First Nations people This reed has a multitude of everyday and ritual uses including; • Leaves were twisted into ropes
• Young shoots are eaten raw or cooked • The tall bamboo-like stems are prized as spears • The stems are also used to make necklaces and inserted through the nasal septum as a decoration • The leaves are used in all areas of weaving, sitting mats, sleeping mats, gathering baskets and bags, food platters, decorations and jewellery
• Digging and stabbing tools • Rafts made from bundles of stems • Medicine for bug bites, grazes etc. • Fibre for bedding and clothes
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Epacris longiflora (Fuchsia Heath)
A popular ornamental plant, which is best known from the Sydney Sandstone Basin. Occurs in wet coastal heath to the fringes of eucalypt forests and woodlands. The native range extends from coastal Sydney and north into southern Queensland.
Use by First Nations people
• Prevention of sandy soil erosion • Flowers used as decoration
Merremia quinata
Widespread in seasonally dry tropical areas of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. It is widespread across Asian countries.
Use by First Nations people • Cooked seeds are used as a food • Crushed seeds are used as a laxative
Photo: Chris Clarke
Melaleuca quinquenervia (Broad-leaved Paperbark)
Widely distributed in coastal and near-coastal districts from north- eastern Queensland to south-eastern New South Wales. Forms communities in swamps and sluggish watercourses. Also occurs in New Guinea and New Caledonia.
Use by First Nations people • Sleeping mats, lean-to shelters
• Absorbent pads for menses, wound dressings • Baby bedding, nappies • Wrapping food for cooking
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Histiopteris incisa (Bat’s Wing Fern)
Widely distributed in coastal and near-coastal districts from north- eastern Queensland to south-eastern New South Wales. Forms communities in swamps and sluggish watercourses. Also occurs in New Guinea and New Caledonia.
Use by First Nations people
• Sleeping mats, lean-to shelters • Absorbent pads for menses, wound dressings • Baby bedding, nappies • Wrapping food for cooking
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Xerochrysum bracteatum (Golden Everlasting)
Widespread in eastern Australian states from north Queensland to Tasmania and a range of growing conditions. Many variants are very popular in cultivation. Early forms were bred in Europe and mixed with South African forms and other colourful daises. These are frequently sold in mixed seed packs.
Use by First Nations people
• Used for decorations, both dried and fresh • Woven into reed bowls for special rites • Hair decorations
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Castanospermum australe (Moreton Bay Chestnut)
A fine spreading tree growing in rainforests and coastal scrubs from
Cape York Peninsula, Queensland and south to Bellinger River New
South Wales.
Use by First Nations people • Very toxic seeds, raw ingestion causes vomiting and diarrhoea • Seeds need to be soaked or left for several days in running water, then dried and ground for making damper or baked and eaten • A signal is sent to meet at the Black Bean tree when it is time to
hunt fowl • Children played with the empty seed pods as toy boats
Photo: David Jones
Acacia complanata (Flat-stemmed or Long-pod Wattle)
A medium to tall spreading shrub. Widespread in coastal districts from northern New South Wales to central Queensland but often in gravelly soils in bloodwood forests.
First Nations people valued most of the 1,000 species of wattle for their many uses, including some of the following:
• Timber for tools/weapons:- Boomerangs, spear throwers, spears, digging sticks, shields and nulla nullas (clubs) • Sap as a drink for coughs and colds, chest infections
• Sap applied directly to cuts and abrasions as an antiseptic • Sap melted for glue and water-proofing of skins, cloaks, clothing and bedding. • Edible seeds ground for flour, powdered seeds used as a spice. (Please note that some Acacia species are not suitable as food because of their cyanide content.) • Fish poison • Pain killer • Sap chewed as a sweet chewing gum to assuage thirst. • Falling blossoms was an indication of season change; the Bunjalung people of the northern coastal area of New South Wales stop hunting the long-necked
turtle at this time and Wurundjeri people in Victoria begin the eel harvest.
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Gleichenia microphylla (Scrambling Coral Fern)
A fern forming extensive tangled colonies. Widespread in much of eastern and southern Australia.
Use by First Nations people • Leaves boiled as tea • Liquid also used for antiseptic wound applications • Bedding
Photo: David Jones Drynaria quercifolia (Oak-leaf Fern)
An epiphytic or lithophytic fern. Widely distributed in northern Australia usually found on trees or rocks in sunny, humid situations.
Use by First Nations people • Used as poultice to treat inflammation, applied directly to swellings • Consumption strengthens and heals bones and ligaments • Benefits for kidney and liver health • Used as a strong daily drink, prevents pregnancy
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Coronidium scorpioides (Button Everlasting)
Widespread and adaptable species occurring in heathland, grasslands and open forest from Gibraltar Range in northern New South Wales to Victoria, Tasmania and south-eastern South Australia.
Use by First Nations people • Yellow flowers used mostly for decoration
Photo: David Jones Grevillea pteridifolia (Golden Grevillea)
Distributed across tropical Australia and is common in woodlands, treed heath, coastal headlands, sandstone escarpments and low- lying swampy areas.
Use by First Nations people • Used as an herb stuffing when cooking Emu • Bedding • Used as an antibacterial wash
Cyperus polystachyos (Many-spiked Flat Sedge)
Grows in and along creeks and rivers in rainforest, Melaleuca forest, vine thickets, Eucalypt forest and swampy places in various types of woodland and grassland, even in salty mud of the seashore. Widespread in the warm parts of the world.
Use by First Nations people • Used for weaving mats and platters for food. Too harsh for bedding
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Centella cordifolia (Swamp Pennywort)
A dwarf perennial creeping herb, which occurs in margins of swamps and wet places. Can cover large areas. Occurs in South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
Use by First Nations people • Used as a cooking herb • Medicinally used for arthritis, rheumatism and neural
conditions
Photo: Bruce Gray
Deplanchea tetraphylla (Golden Bouquet Tree, Wallaby Wireless Tree)
A small tree which produces stunning yellow flowers which attract pollinating birds and animals. Occurs in the wet tropics of
Queensland into New Guinea and Aru Islands.
Use by First Nations people • Leaves used to wrap food and as cooking platters • Wood used for digging tools and some weapons such as the nulla nulla
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Eustrephus latifolius (Wombat Berry)
Climber or scrambling ground cover widely distributed from north -eastern Queensland to eastern Victoria. Grows in rainforest, open forest, coastal scrubs and stream banks.
Use by First Nations people • Vines are used in weaving gathering baskets
• Berries contain edible pulp • Raw roots are sweet tasting • Tubers are edible when baked, tasting much like potato
Photo: Murray Fagg, Australian Plant Image Index
Acacia ulicifolia (Prickly Moses or Juniper Wattle)
A small prickly wattle found in sclerophyll forests along coasts and tablelands from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
Traditional uses by First Nations people are listed in the Acacia label
Banksia dentata (Tropical Banksia)
Photo: David Jones
Banksia dentata (Tropical Banksia)
This tall shrub or small straggly tree occurs in northern tropical areas of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland also in Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya and the Aru Islands. Grows around swamps and in heathlands often forming large extensive colonies.
Use by First Nations people • Nectar attracts honey bees for a source of honeycomb and fresh honey • Dried flower cones which burn for up to two hours are used for fire brands when hunting, burning off or moving camp • Nectar is drunk as an energy source (electrolytes) • A hot, smoking flower spike was used to cauterise Leprosy sores and wounds • Woody spikes are used by women as nasal decorations
• Flower spikes are used as hair combs
Photo: David Jones Blechnum camfieldii (Eared Swamp Fern)
A handsome medium to tall clumping fern, sometimes forming a small trunk. Occurs in Queensland and New South Wales.
Use by First Nations people • Fronds are stripped and the stems of up to one metre are used
to weave gathering bags
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Allocasuarina littoralis (Black She-oak)
A slender or spreading small tree. Widespread in coastal and highland areas from Cape York Peninsula Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria to southern Tasmania. Female flowers are red while male flowers are brown and much smaller.
Use by First Nations people • Bark is used for tanning skins • Wood is used for fuel, tools and weapons of all types • Excellent long-lasting coals can be packed and transported for days when the community move to the next site at the end of a season
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Haemodorum coccineum (Scarlet Bloodroot)
This most spectacular member of the genus is a perennial herb that is widely distributed across northern Australia and extends into Papua New Guinea.
Use by First Nations people • Snake bite treatment • Stalks used as fire sticks
• Used as red, brown (root) or purple (fruit) dye for plant fibres used in decorative weaving for rites and on skins • Used for weaving baskets, string bags and fibre sculptures
Photo: David Jones
Morinda reticulata (Mapoon)
An attractive dwarf to small sub-shrub or climber from woodlands of north-eastern Queensland.
Use by First Nations people • Has edible leaves used in a variety of ways for meals and teas. • Used as a herb in cooking • Fruit used as a red/purple dye
Xyris complanata (Feathered Yellow-eye)
This tufted perennial herb occurs over a wide range of tropical and sub-tropical areas from the Kimberley, Western Australia, across
Northern Territory and Queensland down to central New South
Wales. While not common in cultivation it may be suitable for bog gardens.
Use by First Nations people • Used as a herb in cooking • Pollen attracts bees who then create a source of honey-comb and honey
• Used in weaving
Photo: David Jones
Cycas media subspecies banksii (Cycad)
A member of a very primitive groups of plants that have links to palms and ferns. Widespread in tropical, coastal areas of Queensland. While usually 1 to 3 meters tall old specimens occasionally found to reach 8 meters.
Use by First Nations people • Toxins are leached from the seeds or the seeds are left to age before being ground as a flour for dough or cakes, or eaten like a nut • Mixed with water as a glue • Used in men’s initiation rites, in this case not to be touched by women • Used as a communion food when large groups get together
Photo: David Jones
Cochlospermum gillivraei (Kapok Tree)
Medium slender shrub to small tree widespread in northern coastal and inland districts of Northern Territory and Queensland.
Use by First Nations people
• Young roots are baked in coals and hammered before being eaten • Flower petals are eaten raw • Cotton hairs of the seed capsules are used for body decoration
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Vitex trifolia var. trifolia (Blue Vitex)
Medium to tall shrub with a semi-climbing to sprawling habit with ornamental leaf under- surface. Widespread in coastal districts of N orthern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales from mangroves to littoral rainforests.
Use by First Nations people This plant is literally a pharmacopeia! Here are several of its uses • Leaves are used to relieve menstrual cramps. Roots are used to reduce fevers and treat liver ailments • Dried, burnt leaves act as a mosquito repellent • A decoction of the dried fruits is given for common cold, headache, watery eyes and mastitis • The inner bark is chewed as a remedy for dysentery • The leaves used to relieve pain as an antiseptic and diuretic
Photo: David Jones
Acronychia laevis (Hard Aspen)
This attractive tall shrub or small tree occurs from Cape York Peninsula Queensland to north-eastern New South Wales and on Lord Howe Island.
Use by First Nations people • The oil of the leaves, fruit and bark contain anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Viola banksii (Wild Violet)
A dwarf stoloniferous perennial herb, which can cover large areas in moist soils. Occurs in south-eastern Queensland and New South Wales. Popular in cultivation and sometimes grown under the incorrect name V. hederacea.
Use by First Nations people: • Leaves were twisted into ropes
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Callistemon citrinus (Crimson Bottlebrush)
A medium shrub to small tree. Well known in cultivation in Australia and overseas. Occurs in swampy or damp areas in south- eastern Queensland, through eastern New South Wales and into south -eastern Victoria
Use by First Nations people: • Leaves are brewed as tea sweetened by nectar from flowers • Nectar used as a sweet energy drink (electrolytes) • Natural herbicide/insect repellent
• Shoots and young cones can be eaten • Wood used for all types of tools and weapons • Used as wind breaks
Photo: Rodger Elliot
Chrysocephalum apiculatum (Golden Buttons)
A variable spreading dwarf perennial herb. Very extensive distribution across all states and territories. Hardy and very popular in cultivation.
Use by First Nations people • Mostly decorative, worn in hair or as a necklace • Used as a herb in cooking • Low plant used against soil erosion
Banksia serrata (Saw Banksia)
Widespread in eastern Australia, extending from southern Queensland along the coast to Wilsons Promontory on Victoria's south coast. The plant occurs as far inland as the Great Dividing Range. There is also a population across Bass Strait in northern Tasmania.
Use by First Nations people • A sweet drink by straining water through the cones. • Cones used to transport fire from camp to camp.
• Needles tools and weapons made from the wood.
• Flower spikes used as hair combs, scratchers and scrapers.
Platycerium bifurcatum (Elkhorn Fern)
Found growing on trees and rock-faces in the understorey of rainforests along creek margins and in moist shaded gullies from southern NSW north to Cooktown and in Papua New Guinea. Popular fern in cultivation.
Use by First Nations people
• Young leaves used to wrap food Photo: Rodger Elliot • Older leaves used as eating plates
• Whole plant used as water catchment
Pandorea pandorana subspecies pandorana (Wonga Vine)
Variable climber or scrambler with a diverse distribution in coastal scrub to rainforests from the Northern Territory to Tasmania.
Use by First Nations people • Woomera – cast spear
Photo: Rodger Elliot • Digging sticks • Weaving
Eucalyptus platyphylla (Poplar or Cabbage Gum)
A medium-sized tree, occurring in the coastal strip of eastern Queensland from Horn Island in the Torres Strait and Cape York Peninsula, south through drier western parts of the Atherton Tablelands south to Rockhampton.
Use by First Nations people Photo: JCU • Antiseptic • Treatment for aches and pains • Dyes for skins, decorations and fibre for weaving
Alocasia brisbanensis (Native Lily or Cunjevoi)
Grows in rainforests of eastern Australia and is hardy in cultivation as far south as Victoria. Pleasantly fragrant flowers. Although related to edible Taro this plant is poisonous.
Use by First Nations people • Extremely toxic plant that can cause death if the leaves, flowers or stems are consumed • The juice/sap causes skin irritation in the form of a Photo: Rodger Elliot burning rash
• Avoided by all Indigenous clans/tribes
Lambertia formosa (Mountain Devil)
Popular in cultivation however restricted in nature to sandstone-based soils around Sydney, inland to Braidwood and north to Port Stephens. The only eastern Australian member of this genus with a further nine species in Western Australia.
Use by First Nations people • Food - profuse nectar and edible flowers
• Prevention of soil erosion
Photo: Rodger Elliot • Decoration