L. australis has many different names in Aboriginal languages. In the Arrernte language of Central Australia; merne alangkwe (older transcription: elonka[4]), merne ulkantyerrknge (the flowers) and merne altyeye (the prefix merne signifies plant food). In Karrajari, Nyulnyul and Yawuru it is called 'Magabala'.[5] The Walmajarri people call it Kurlipi.[6] The small fruits are called amwerterrpe. Kalgoorlie and Karlkurla (one of its suburbs) both take their names from a Wangai word meaning "place of the silky pears".
Edibility
All parts of the bush banana plant are still eaten in the desert region by indigenous communities today.
The flowers hang in clusters and can also be eaten raw, as can the main part of the plant (altyeye in Arrernte). Some people suck the nectar from the flowers as a source of food, while others use it as a garnish.
Bush bananas are cooked in hot earth beside the fire or eaten raw when young (the flavour has been likened to fresh peas or zucchini). The root of the plant is called Merne atnetye and can also be eaten raw or cooked. The very white roots are cooked in the hot earth close to the fire. Young leaves can be used in salads.[7]
One of the significant bush food for the Aboriginal people of Australia, the food is often depicted in current Aboriginal art, especially paintings about 'bush tucker', as well as 'Bush Banana Dreaming' paintings.[8]
↑ "Bush Banana". South Australian Native Foods Association. www.sanativefoods.org.au. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
The quince is the sole member of the genus Cydonia in the Malinae subtribe of the Rosaceae family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yellow pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear. Ripe quince fruits are hard, tart, and astringent. They are eaten raw or processed into marmalade, jam, paste or alcoholic beverages.
Passiflora edulis, commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy fruit. The fruit is a pepo, a type of berry, round to oval, either yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit is both eaten and juiced, with the juice often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma.
Damper is a thick home-made bread traditionally prepared by early European settlers in Australia. It is a bread made from wheat-based dough. Flour, salt and water, with some butter if available, is lightly kneaded and baked in the coals of a campfire, either directly or within a camp oven.
Solanum centrale, the kutjera, or Australian desert raisin, is a plant native to the more arid parts of Australia. Like other "bush tomatoes", it has been used as a food source by Central Australia and Aboriginal groups for millennia.
Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or funga used for culinary or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Animal native foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and crocodile, and plant foods include fruits such as quandong, kutjera, spices such as lemon myrtle and vegetables such as warrigal greens and various native yams.
The wild orange is an Australian native plant found in dry inland areas of Australia. Its scientific name is Capparis mitchellii. It is not related to oranges, nor to the Osage-orange which is known as "wild orange" in North America, but to capers.
The mulga apple is an Australian bush tucker food, often eaten by the Indigenous Australians of Central Australia.
Solanum ellipticum is known as potato bush and under the more ambiguous name of "bush tomato". The Arrernte name of merne awele-awele might refer to this species or to the similar S. quadriloculatum. Native to Australia, the potato bush is a small fruiting shrub in the family Solanaceae.
Vigna lanceolata, known as the pencil yam, native bean, Maloga bean, parsnip bean, Ngarlajiyi, small yam, yam, bush carrot, Wapurtali, Wapirti, and Wajaraki is an Australian native plant. Its name in the Arrernte language of Central Australia is Merne arlatyeye.
Ipomoea costata, commonly known as rock morning glory, is an Australian native plant. It is found in northern Australia, from Western Australia, through the Northern Territory, to Queensland. Its tubers provide a form of bush tucker to some Aboriginal peoples, known as bush potato, or, karnti.
Ventilago viminalis, commonly known as supplejack, vine tree or whip vine, is a tree native to Northern and Central Australia from coastal regions of Queensland to the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Cyperus bulbosus is a species of sedge found across Africa, the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Australia. In Australia, it is commonly called Nalgoo or (Australian) bush onion or "wild onion", but is not related to the onion or other Alliaceae. It is a component of Australian bushfood, but is considered an agricultural weed in other areas.
Australian Aboriginal people have many ways to source sweet foods. The four main types of sweet foods gathered – apart from ripe fruit – were:
This is a list of plants commonly found in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory of Australia. Where known, common names are given in English and in Gun-djeihmi, a commonly spoken indigenous language in the area, are given in parentheses.
Carissa spinarum, the conkerberry or bush plum, is a large shrub of the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), widely distributed in tropical regions of Africa, Southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Indian Ocean. It is most well known in Australia, where it is also called currant bush or, more ambiguously, native currant or even black currant. It is, however, neither closely related to plums (Prunus) nor to true currants (Ribes), which belong to entirely different lineages of eudicots. In India, it is also called wild karanda /wild karavanda, referring to the related karanda. Carissa spinarum is often discussed under its many obsolete synonyms.
Citrus australis, the Dooja, round lime, Australian lime or Australian round lime, is a large shrub or small tree producing an edible fruit. It grows in forest margins in the Beenleigh area and northwards, in Queensland, Australia.
Semecarpus australiensis, commonly known as the tar tree, native cashew, marking nut, or cedar plum, is a species of tree in the cashew, sumac and mango family Anacardiaceae, native to parts of Melanesia and northern Australia. Contact with the plant can cause serious allergic reactions, a common characteristic of this family.
Veronica Perrule Dobson is an Eastern Arrernte linguist, educator, elder, Traditional Owner, author and ecologist. She is instrumental in establishing Eastern Arrernte as a written language.
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