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You are here: Home / Farming / Bushfoods for permaculture gardens and farms in the sub-tropics

August 2, 2018 by Ronni Martin

Bushfoods for permaculture gardens and farms in the sub-tropics

Adding local bush foods to your garden can add new flavours to your diet while sustaining wildlife as well. There is a native plant to fill almost every purpose from food to fiber to timber, and they come in all growth forms from vines to giant trees. The lists below will help you to find a useful local plant suited to our climate and landscape.

There are many reasons to include bush foods in your garden design. Local native plants are easier to look after than exotic plants as they are well adapted to local conditions of climate and soil.  They’re also less susceptible to pests and diseases and can assist with pest control as they provide habitat for native insects and birds that feed on pests. Growing native plants attracts wildlife to your garden which gives you an added connection with your natural environment and helps to increase biodiversity. Bush foods can also be included in bush regeneration plantings to increase the productivity of native plantings on site.

Many local native plants have the bonus that they add different, interesting foods to your diet. Bush foods include spices like native pepper, vegetables like warrigal greens, fruit like native raspberry and nuts like macadamia. Learning about local bush foods acknowledges the way indigenous people lived in the environment, and this understanding promotes respect for the land.

On larger Permaculture properties bush foods have potential for being grown commercially. There is increasing demand for bush foods, with industry associations that are working to build markets for their products. Lemon myrtle, Davidson’s plum, macadamia nuts, and native limes are all grown in commercial quantities. Rosella and other bush food jams are often available at Farmers Markets.

Growing Requirements

Most of the plants listed below are rainforest species. They require well drained soil, with high levels of organic matter and will not tolerate long periods without moisture. Most will tolerate shade, but require sun for the best fruit or seed production.

 


 
Zone 1:            Home garden
Common Name Botanical Name Growth Form Uses
Flax lily Dianella caerula Hardy plant with strappy leaves, attractive flowers and fruits Edible blue fruits
Native raspberry* Rubus rosifolius var rosifolius Prickly canes, suckers readily, full sun fruit eaten fresh or in jam
Native Turmeric (Cape York Lily) Curcuma australasica Ginger-like plant, large leaves, attractive flowers Rhizomes used like turmeric
Native violet Viola hederacea Low groundcover Flowers and leaves edible
Nyullee (pigface) Carpobrotus glaucesens Succulent groundcover, full sun ‘Salty strawberry’ fruit
Rosella Hibiscus sabdariffa Annual shrub Red calyx used in jams, teas, chutney
Scrambling lily Geitonoplesium cymosum Small vine, likes shade Shoot eaten raw
Scurvy Weed Commelina cyanea Perennial prostrate herb with blue flowers Leaves eaten raw or cooked
Spike rush (water chestnut) Eleocharis dulcis water rush that grows in water or boggy ground Edible corms
Warrigal greens* Tetragonia tetragonioides annual groundcover, salt tolerant, sun or partial shade Edible leaf (must be boiled first), used as a spinach

 

 


Zone 2:            Home orchard
Aniseed myrtle* Backhousia anisata small to medium tree aromatic leaves with aniseed flavour, used in teas
Bolwarra Eupomatia laurina Shrub Edible fruit
Blue tongue Melastoma affine Shrub with mauve flowers Grainy purple fruit
Burdekin plum* Pleiogynum timorense medium tree Purple fruit in winter, eaten fresh or used in jams
Cedar Bay cherry* Eugenia reinwardtiana shrub, full sun sweet, pink-red fruit eaten raw
Cinnamon myrtle* Backhousia  myrtifolia shrub with white flowers aromatic leaves for tea, spice
Davidson’s plum* Davidsonia pruriens small tree Sour fruit used in jams, wine
Finger lime* Citrus australasica small tree, best in partial shade small fruit (red, purple or green) used in drinks, marmalades,
Lemon aspen, common aspen* Achronychia acidula medium trees

 

lemon flavoured fruit, use in sauces, drinks
Lemon myrtle* Backhousia citriodora medium tree, hardy aromatic leaves contain ‘citral’, used in teas, sauces, cosmetics
Lilli pillies Syzygium spp. small – medium trees fruit used in jams, drinks, sauces
Lime berry Glycosmis trifoliata Shrub small juicy pink fruits eaten fresh
Macadamia* Macadamia integrifolia Medium/large tree edible nuts with high oil content
Midyim berry Austromyrtis dulcis low shrub, ground cover small, speckled edible fruit
Millaa millaa vine Eleagnus triflora clumping vine Small, tasty fruit, high in lycopene
Native ginger Alpinia caerulea attractive understorey shrub spicy seeds, shoots edible, leaves used to wrap fish in coals
Native pepper* Tasmannia lanceolata shrub for cool, moist areas, with purple or white berries dried leaves and seeds used as pepper
Native tamarind* Diploglottis australis Tall slender tree Sour yellow fruit used for jams, drinks
Peanut tree Sterculia quadrifida small-medium tree, deciduous Edible black seed in a decorative red pod
Riberry* Syzygium luehmannii small – medium tree, pink new foliage, white flowers, red fruit fruit used in jams, drinks, sauces
Round lime* Citrus australis small to medium tree round green fruit used in jams, drinks
Sandpaper fig Ficus coronata small trees fleshy purple fruit, edible raw or in jams
Small leaved tamarind* Diploglottis campbellii medium tree, hardy,

glossy green foliage

fruit with red, edible aril, used in jams, drinks
Walking stick palm Linospadix monostachya attractive understorey shrub refreshing small red fruit
Zig zag vine Melodorum leichhardtii vine Tangy ‘orange sherbet’ fruit

 

 


Zone 3:            Commercial orchard

*Species marked with an asterisk in the lists above and below have commercial potential.


Zone 4:            Windbreaks, Erosion control, Stock shelter belts

All the species listed above can be used, plus those in the table below.


Zone 5:            Bush Regeneration areas

All the species listed above plus those in the table below.

Acacias (wattles)* Acacia spp fast-growing pioneers, small to large trees, add nitrogen to the soil many have seed that is edible after roasting and grinding, used for coffee substitute, and in desserts
Black apple Planchonella australis large tree edible fruit
Blue quandong Elaeocarpus grandis large tree fruit used for drinks
Brown pine plum* Podocarpus elatus large tree fruit used for jams, sauces
Bunya pine* Araucaria bidwilli large tree edible nuts, boiled, roasted, dried, ground for flour
Cockspur vine Maclura cochinchinensis clumping, thorny vine edible yellow or orange fruit
Kangaroo apple Solanum aviculare pioneer shrub fruits edible in small amounts when completely ripe
Native grapes Cissus antartica vines some have edible fruit
Native hibiscus Hibiscus tiliaceus pioneer, small flowering tree flowers edible in salads or jam, leaves edible when boiled
Native mulberry Pipturis argenteus pioneer small tree fruits edible
Native tamarind* Diploglottis australis medium-large tree fruit with yellow aril used for jams, drinks

 

 

Further Reading

Tim Low (1988) Wild Food Plants of Australia, Angus and Robertson, Sydney

Cribb, AB & JW. (1974) Wild Food in Australia, Fontana Collins, Sydney

Online

Australian Native Foods and Botanicals – www.anfab.org.au

 

 

Related Posts:

  • Advanced Permaculture Skills Program

Filed Under: Farming Tagged With: bush foods, farming, Gardening, info, permaculture, Sub-tropics

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