Bush Tucker Plants by 5 You've Never Heard of Before

 PLANT OF THE WEEK

Scientific Name: Rubus parvifolia

Common Name:Native raspberry

Native Habitat: found mainly along the east coast in rainforest or coast heath communities.

Description:A scrambling vine or shrub the shoots from underground rhizomes with hooked thorns to help it climb. 

Height-Width: 2 x 2 m

Flowering: December to April

Fruiting:Juicy fruit produced in clusters.

Position: Full sun or part shade.

Attributes: Dry tolerant once established.

Rubus parvifolia

Not all fruiting vines or canes come from the northern hemisphere, Australia has quite a lot of its own.
These plants have similar fruits and are easier to grow than there northern counterparts so why are we growing them more? 

My experience is observing one such plant in Sydney Botanic gardens, scrambling on a stream bank near the Palm House. This plant is part of the native garden along with banksias, grass trees, lomandras, carpobrotus and many others, including a peppermint gum.

The habit of rubus species is to keep suckering and spreading, much like the non-native blackberry bushes, so take care where exactly you plant it in your garden.

Listen to the podcast to find out more.

I'm talking with horticulturist and native plant afficionado, Adrian O’Malley

PLANT OF THE WEEK Number 2

Scientific Name: Atriplex nummularia

Common Name:Old Man Saltbush

Family: Chenopodiaceae

Native Habitat: found in semi-arid and arid areas of Australia.

Description:-grey-green leaves on a somewhat woody shrub. Dioecious-separate male and female plants.

Height-Width: 3 x 2-5 m

Flowering: small white flowers occur throughout most of the year.

Fruiting:rounded fruits.

Position: Full sun and tolerant of some shade. 

Attributes: Dry tolerant once established due to the extensive deep root system that extends to 5m deep and 10m across.

• The leaves impart a salty flavour if your dry and crumble them and sprinkle on food.

Possibly, listeners would be familiar with the term ‘old man saltbush’ or even have seen this plant growing somewhere.

But I daresay, you would not have heards that parts of this plant are considered bush tucker.
There are many bush tucker plants that are not that well known and this is another one of them.

• The Department of Primary Industries NSW recommends the following for farmland. 

"Shrubs are grown in hedgerows as block or alley plantings across the farm to provide high-protein green feed during periods of feed shortage."

Old Man Saltbush: Photo courtesy DPI NSW

"Shrubs are grown in hedgerows as block or alley plantings across the farm to provide high-protein green feed during periods of feed shortage.Not recommended for areas with less than 300 mm average annual rainfall, or more than 600 mm average annual rainfall." 

In the home garden, if you’re first planting out old man saltbush, don’t expect it to survive without any water at the start. After the first warm season, then it’s good to go on just what falls out of the sky in rainfall.

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast with Adrian O' Malley horticulturist and native plant expert. 

PLANT OF THE WEEK Number 3 Scientific Name: Microseris lanceolata Common Name:Murnong Yam Family:Asteraceae Yam Daisy Native Habitat: found in a wide range of habitats in Australia: these inlcude mallee, slerophyll and sub-alpine communities. Description:-Strappy, linear green leaves above underground tubers that emerge after rain in Autumn. Height-Width: 30cm x 30cm Flowering: yellow daisy flowers in spring-autumn. Fruiting:fluffy seedheads (known as achenes), similar to dandelion seedhead. Position: Full sun and part shade.  Attributes: Dry tolerant once established and can grow in sandy soil.   There are many bush tucker plants that are not that well known and this is another one of them. Yam daisy plant can be hard to identify in the wild because it looks like a lot of other yellow daisy plants, including dandelions and flatweed, also called cats ears. The main differences: flat weed has a rosette of hairy, wavy-edged leaves that sit flat on the ground, while murnong has upright lance-shaped leaves.  Murnong flower stems have a curved, drooping top as the bud develops, then straighten as it opens, whereas flatweeds and dandelions are upright as the bud is forming. The white tubers are nutritious and sweet tasting They can be eaten raw or baked, mixed with other vegetables or turned into a paste for dessert. It is possible to buy the seeds of yam daisy plant online. To find out more listen to the podcast. I'm talking with Adrian O'Malley horticulturist

PLANT OF THE WEEK Number 4

Scientific Name: Tetragonia tetragoniodes

Common Name:Warrigal Greens

Family: Aizoaceae

Native Habitat: fcoastal areas, sandy shorelines or inland rivers and salt marshes

Description:A ground cover that can act like a dune stabiliser.

Height-Width: 2 x 2 m

Flowering: tiny inconsipicuous flowers Spring and Summer

Fruiting:Juicy fruit produced in clusters.

Position: Full sun or part shade.

Attributes: Dry tolerant once established.

• There are many bush tucker plants that are not that well known and this is another one of them.

Warrigal greens

These greens can be a spinach substitute, and although one of the names is NZ Spinach, here in Australia, we prefer to call them Warrigal greens.

High in oxalic acid so need to be blanched for 1 minute before using raw in salads.  

• If you’re anywhere near a sandy beach, look out for NZ spinach growing somewhere not to far from the shoreline. 
• Yet another bush tucker plant that should be grown more.

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast.

I'm talking with Adrian O’Malley, horticulturist and native plant expert.

PLANT OF THE WEEK Number 5

Scientific Name: Billardiera scandens

Common Name: Appleberry

Family: Pittosporaceae

Native Habitat: found mainly along the east coast in a variety of commnityes such as coastal heath and sclerophyll forest.

Description:A twining climber or groundcover.. Pale lance shaped green leaves have wavy margins.

Height-Width: 1.5 x3 m

Flowering: September to December. Pendulous bell-shaped flowers on branch tips, similar to correa flowers.

Appleberry flowers. photo courtesy David Midgley

Appleberry fruit

Fruiting: Oblong berries appear on the bush in summer while the plant continues to flower. At first green to purple that turn yellow when ripe. Taste is similar to green kiwi fruit. Size is similar to sultana grapes. (Those that are elongated having been treated with gibberelins.)

Position: Full sun or part shade. Will become more sparse in shade.

Attributes: Long flowering and fruiting period. Requires watering and regular pruning in cultivation.

• Suitable for container growing. Regular tip pruning in this situation will result in a small shrubby plant.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been focussing on bush tucker plants, some of which you may not have heard of before.
The appleberry is no exception because even though it can be found in national parks, most people would walk by and not realise that it’s a bush tucker plant.

For Sydneysiders, it can be found in Lane Cove National Park.

Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast.

I’m talking with Adrian O’Malley, native plant officianado and expert.

There are many bush tucker plant nurseries that supply these plants online and are able to post out to most areas of Australia.

If you have any questions or feedback or have some information to share, drop us a line to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675 and I’ll send you a packet of seeds.