epharmacognosy
11/28/2020 04:00:00 AM
Spiny-headed Mat-rush (Lomandra longifolia)
Spiny-headed Mat-rush is a large tussocky plant that is common throughout south-eastern Australia and is found across most of Victoria. The Wurundjeri people particularly favour this plant for weaving cultural items such as necklaces, headbands, girdles, baskets, mats and bags for carrying foods, as well as for making technologies such as eel traps and hunting nets. Its seeds, high in protein, can be collected and pounded into a bread mix, with the core of the plant and the base of the leaves eaten as a vegetable. Aboriginal peoples use the roots to treat bites and stings. Lomandra is a food plant for the caterpillars of several butterflies.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne
epharmacognosy
11/16/2020 01:48:00 AM
Pale Flax-lily (Dianella longifolia)
Pale Flax-lily is very similar to Paroo Lily in appearance with its pale to dark blue flowers (August to January), which form round blue-purple berries. Pale Flax-lily grows all
over Victoria and is found in all states of Australia; its leaves are used by many diverse Aboriginal groups for basket-making with the berries often used as a dye. Providing great habitat for small animals and attracting birds that eat its berries, it also attracts native butterflies and bees.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne
epharmacognosy
11/07/2020 09:39:00 AM
Tussock Grass (Poa poiformis)
Tussock Grass is a tough grass used by many diverse Aboriginal groups to make string for nets and bags, baskets and mats. Native to Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales, it is common along coastlines, on marshes, flats, sand dunes and sea- cliffs. Victoria has around 25 species of native tussock grasses and this type is distinguished by its blueish colouration. Tussock Grass is a caterpillar food source, habitat for small animals such as lizards, is bird and butterfly attracting, and is taken by birds for nesting materials. It is also excellent for stabilising soils and combating erosion.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne
epharmacognosy
11/05/2020 02:08:00 AM
Wattle Mat-rush (Lomandra filiformis)
Wattle Mat-rush gets its name from its flowers that look much like wattle buds and range from cream to yellow in colour. With some variation depending on its location, this plant flowers from around October to November. Native to Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, Wattle Mat-rush is an important food source for caterpillars including Phigalia Skipper, Phigalioides Skipper, Praxedes Skipper, Eilena Skipper and Rare White Spot Skipper. It is frost and drought resistant and grows to approximately 0.25-m high and 0.2-m wide.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
11/01/2020 01:09:00 AM
White Correa (Correa alba)
White Correa is common right across Victoria and is seen in every state in Australia except for the Northern Territory. When dried, its leaves make a delicious tea, which is similar in taste to English breakfast tea and was popular with Victorian colonists as supplies from their home countries were often precarious. White Correa is climate tolerant, being immune to both frost and drought as well as being salt tolerant. It has a fuchsia-like white flower which can be seen in autumn and winter, attracting nectar-eating birds and insects.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne
epharmacognosy
10/24/2020 07:09:00 AM
Fen Sedge (Carex gaudichaudiana)
Fen Sedge is native to eastern Australia and is adaptable to most soils, but prefers to be close to the edges of waterways. Growing to approximately one metre wide and high, it flowers from around September through to February with dark, almost black flowers. Fen sedge, like many plants that border water, provides vital habitat for small animals such as frogs, birds and swamp rats and is also an important food plant for caterpillars. Many sedges are used by diverse Aboriginal groups to make cultural items such as baskets of varying sizes, bags and mats as well as for technologies such as spears and traps.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne
epharmacognosy
10/22/2020 03:20:00 AM
Sticky Everlasting Daisy (Xerochrysum viscosum)
The Sticky Everlating Daisy is native to Victoria, New South Wales, ACT, Tasmania and Queensland. It is an opportunistic plant that often grows in disturbed areas, for example roadsides and the Victorian goldfields. This daisy has papery yellow flowerheads that are long lasting, flowering in spring through summer and sometimes into autumn. The Sticky Everlasting Daisy is both drought and frost tolerant as is a food source for native butterflies and larvae.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/19/2020 05:54:00 PM
Wallaby Grass (general)
There are around 30 types of Wallaby Grass in Australia. Native grasslands were once
the most extensive habitat of Victoria’s plains but are now the most endangered plant community. Grasslands provide food and habitat for birds and animals such as the Peregrine Falcon, Australian Hobby, Whistling Kite, Australian Kestrels, Stubble Quail, Legless Lizard, Little Whip Snake, Fat-tailed Dunnart and Yellow-winged Grasshopper. Wallaby Grass seeds make an excellent bread, with the leaves and stem used to make cultural items such as nets. It has a high frost, heat and drought tolerance and requires no fertilisers, little water, and makes an excellent lawn, controlling erosion and weeds.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/17/2020 09:27:00 PM
Hop Wattle (Acacia stricta)
Hop Wattle is visited by many native birds, which feed on insects attracted to it and also eat the seeds. Wattle plants are very important to many diverse groups of Abo- riginal peoples and almost all parts of wattle (Acacia) are used in some way. The gum from Acacia species is used by diverse groups of Aboriginal peoples as a medicine for dysentery and also applied to wounds. Green seed pods are sometimes cooked and eaten, with dry seeds ground into flour to make bread. Aboriginal peoples also use the bark as a decoction to treat venereal disease and boils and also cast into water to stun fish to make them easy to catch. The inner bark is useful for making string.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/16/2020 05:37:00 PM
Gold Dust Wattle (Acacia acinacea)
Gold Dust Wattle has bright yellow flowers that can be seen in spring and attract many insects, birds and bees. Native to South Australia, New South Wales and much of Victoria, with the exception of areas of eastern and southern Victoria. All parts of Acacia species are used for nutritional (for example seeds used to make flour), medicinal (bark used to treat e.g. venereal diseases) and technological (bark used to stun fish for hunting) purposes by diverse groups of Aboriginal peoples. Wattle seeds are high in protein, carbohydrate, fibre, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/15/2020 06:32:00 PM
Lightwood/ Hickory Wattle (Acacia implexa)
Lightwood is an adaptive plant that tolerates both wet and dry conditions. Native to all states except Western Australia, Lightwood can grow up to 15-m high and its flowers are small-scented cream balls, which can be seen from December to March. Like all Acacias, Lightwood is widely used by many Aboriginal groups in a multitude of ways including as a dye (phyllodes), bark for tanning, as well as bark fibres to manufacture string for technologies such as nets.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/13/2020 06:06:00 PM
Black Sheoak (Allocasuarina littoralis)
Black Sheoak is native to Queensland, Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria. Growing up to 8m high and flowering in spring, Sheoaks favour dry conditions and have either male flowers occurring in rusty-brown spikes or red female flowers that develop into cones. Its seeds are an important food source for many native birds including parrots and cockatoos. Sheoaks are used by diverse groups of Aboriginal peoples, with shoots and cones eaten and Sheoak wood highly favoured for fashioning boomerangs, shields, clubs and other cultural implements. In the Wyrie Swamp in South Australia, boomerangs made from various types of Sheoak have been dated at 10,000 years old.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/12/2020 05:42:00 PM
Coast Banksia (Banksia integrifolia)
Coast Banksia has large, nectar-rich yellow flowers that can be seen at any time of the year but mostly occur from autumn through to winter and spring. The flower attracts seed- and nectar-eating birds, bees, butterflies, various insects and mammals. Growing up to 15-m high, Coast Banksia is native to Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. Many diverse groups of Aboriginal people use the flowers to make a sweet nectar drink (often mixed with wattle gum), with stamens used to make fine paint brushes.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/11/2020 06:14:00 PM
Silver Banksia (Banksia marginate)
The most common of all banksias in Victoria, the Silver Banksia has pale yellow-green flower cones that can appear at any time of the year. All banksias produce nectar important for nectar-eating birds, which also act as pollinators. Visiting pollinators that enjoy the nectar and seeds of banksias include the New Holland Honeyeater, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, insects and small mammals such as Eastern Pygmy- possum, Feathertail Glider and Sugar Glider. Banksia flowers can be soaked to make a delicious, sweet drink from the nectar. The dry cones of Silver Banksia are also useful as strainers and fire carriers.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/10/2020 06:30:00 PM
Common Spike-rush (Eleocharis acuta)
Common Spike-rush prefers damp soil along the river margins and banks and is native to all states. Rush is an important plant for diverse Aboriginal groups of the south-east and has multiple uses. Many types of rush have edible tubers and seeds, and leaves are often used as part of traditional weaving practices for making cultural items such as string, necklaces, baskets and mats but also important technologies such as nets, traps and spears.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/09/2020 06:58:00 PM
Common Wheat-grass (Elymus scabrus)
Native grasses are integral to Australia’s original grassy ecosystem habitats, which are amongst the most threatened of all habitats in Australia. Wheat-grass has rough, bluish leaves and distinct wheat-like seed heads. Wheat-grass, together with Spear Grass and Wallaby Grass, create sheltered areas for smaller native herbs and lilies and important nesting areas for birds. It is also sought after by many types of butterflies as a food-source. Flowers appear between July and September and are a green spike which become straw coloured. Wheat-grass is native to New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, ACT and Victoria.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/08/2020 04:50:00 PM
Hop Goodenia (Goodenia ovata)
With bright yellow flowers that are mainly seen in spring and summer but sometimes occur throughout the year, Hop Goodenia thrives in damp areas, especially those that have been cleared, disturbed or burnt, creating increased levels of light. An important source of food for caterpillars, it also provides food for small insect-eating birds and native mice, and shelter for lizards and snakes. Rosellas also eat its fruit. Aboriginal women gave a carefully prepared infusion of the sticky leaves of the Hop Goodenia to babies to help them sleep. Many diverse groups of Aboriginal peoples also use infusions of the leaves and twigs of Hop Goodenia as an anti-diabetic medicine. Flowers can be used to make yellow pigment.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/08/2020 12:48:00 AM
Woolly Grevillea (Grevillea lanigera)
Woolly Grevillea is found in New South Wales and Victoria. Growing up to 1.5-m high with flowers of red and pink with hints of white and yellow, which can mainly be seen in winter and spring but are known to sporadically occur at other times in the year. Providing good habitat and nesting sites for small birds, particularly honeyeaters, as well as food for native moths, butterflies and nectar-eating birds. Woolly Grevillea is drought and frost tolerant. Many diverse Aboriginal groups use Grevillea to make sweet drinks and nectar can be sucked directly as a sweet treat also.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/06/2020 09:58:00 PM
Common Boobialla (Myoporum insulare)
Common Boobialla is also sometimes known as ‘blue-berry tree’. It is native to Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. White flowers are seen from August through to November. Birds are attracted to the purple, fleshy fruit (approximately 6 mm in diameter) which is edible although sometimes unpalatable, as it ranges from sweet and juicy to salty and bitter.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
epharmacognosy
10/05/2020 11:30:00 PM
Nardoo (Marsilea drummondii)
Nardoo is a type of fern found in all states of Australia. Able to grow in dry ground at the edges of water, it is also aquatic and thrives in areas that are regularly flooded. Fruits are light-brown sporocarps, and usually appear when water recedes. Spores can be gathered and eaten as food by first roasting then grinding them between stones to remove black husks, leaving a powder that is mixed with water (causing expansion) to make a damper cooked in the ashes of a fire. The powder mixed with water can also be eaten uncooked as a gruel.
Soure: Indigenous plant use; A booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants; By Zena Cumpston; Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub in Melbourne 2020
