Native Tamarind
Bushfood native tamarind Diploglottis australis, with its large velvety leaves, is an attractive rainforest tree that is valued for its prolific sweet-tart fruit.
An involved naming history exists for this species and though Diploglottis australis is the currently accepted name it may also be known as Diploglottis cunninghamii or Large Leaf Tamarind. It is native to temperate and sub topical regions along the east coast with a natural range from Mackay in SE QLD to the Illawarra. A tall slender evergreen tree it can reach up to 30m in the rainforest, but will usually only grow to about 10m in a domestic garden making it a great backyard shade tree. Young trees grow straight up with a small spray of leaves until they reach the forest canopy when they start to branch and make an umbrella-shaped crown of coarse green leaves. The large pinnate leaves, sometimes exceeding 60cm in length, are one of the largest in the Australian rainforest and are the Native Tamarind’s most striking feature. New growth and leaf stalks are covered in attractive velvety bronze teddy-bear fuzz somewhat resembling a kangaroo paw. This relative of the lychee bears prolific edible fruit each season and is habitat for many bird species.
Position
Native Tamarind is reasonably tolerant of urban conditions. It’s best planted in a sheltered position protecting it from strong winds that may damage the large leaflets. Preferably plant among other trees in filtered light or to avoid the western sun, though it will tolerate full sun. When young it is susceptible to cold and frost but once established there is some evidence it copes well with colder temperatures and even light frost.
This striking rainforest plant is also very suitable as an indoor plant. It can be kept small by cutting the stem back and it will happily reshoot. Place near a window with lots of indirect sunlight. Like all indoor plants it benefits from occasional periods outside in rain and filtered sunlight.
Water Use
Water when young as Native Tamarind prefers moist, well-drained soils for optimum growing conditions. Once established, however, it is relatively drought hardy. In winter or periods of low rainfall its natural habit is to drop leaves to conserve water, so watering will keep it dense and shady. If you can’t spare the water once rain comes the canopy will thicken up again. For indoor plants water well and spritz often but don’t let it sit in water as it likes good drainage. In all positions mulch well.
Soil and Fertiliser
Prefers soils with a neutral ph, however is said to tolerate sandy, loamy and clay soils. Some suggestion to fertilise with seaweed and chicken manure.
For indoor plants add slow-release fertiliser in Spring and Autumn.
Flowering and Fruiting
Fairly insignificant creamy flowers form at the leaf base in spring. They are followed by prolific fruiting of large spikes of sour but pleasant fruit in the summer months. The berries, which are two or three-lobed, are roughly 3cm in diameter or about the size of a small fig. They have a yellow-brown hairy outer casing and contain juicy, orange or red, jelly-like edible pulp around a large brown seed.
Pests and Disease
Seed collected from damp ground can be heavily infested with insect grubs.
Propagation
Propagate from fresh seed. Soak in water overnight to sort out any seed affected by grubs. Seed germination is reliable and fast. The seedling is a stiff, hairy little plant that grows slowly to start but can be quite vigorous once established given optimum conditions.
Harvest
It takes 5+ years to reach fruiting maturity. Once mature it is a prolific fruiter and fruits will fall from the tree when ripe. Collect as soon as possible as they are a favourite of ants, birds, bats and other garden creatures. The flesh can be removed and frozen until needed.
Pruning
Very adaptable to shaping and pruning. Left alone they will grow as single-trunked trees but cut them back hard to encourage the formation of multiple trunks and a more bushy habit. Pruning may affect fruiting.
Uses and Properties
For those in the know, Native Tamarind is prized for its fruit. Somewhat similar in taste to Asian Tamarind, the sour but pleasant tasting fruit are extremely high in vitamin C and can be eaten raw or used to make jams, chutneys, cordials and sauces. Delicious on bread or to accompany meats and cheeses. Blend fruit cooked with sugar into a thick syrup to use on ice-cream and yoghurt or to add a lemony flavour to cakes. For those who find the taste too sour, a refreshing drink can be made by boiling the fruits with sugar and water.
Other Benefits
Native Tamarind fruit is very desirable to native wildlife. Flying foxes and bats love the fruit. It’s an important habitat tree for many species of rainforest birds that eat the fruit and spread the seed, including the Australasian Figbird, Green Catbird, Brown Cuckoo Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Topknot Pigeon, Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Crimson Rosella, Satin and Regent Bowerbird. Brush Turkeys will happily clean up fallen fruit from the ground below. It also attracts bees and insects and is a host tree to the pale green triangle butterfly (Graphium eurypylus) as well as for larvae of the Bright Cornelian (Deudorix diovis) butterfly.
This could be a good tree to use in an Australian sensory garden due to its large coarse velvety leaves.
Availability
Native Tamarind are available from native plant nurseries, though supplies may be small.
Fruit pulp is also available from some online bushfood suppliers.
But wouldn’t it be nicer to have one of your own?!
References
Burringbar Rainforest Nursery – Upper Burringbar, NE NSW
www.burringbarrainforestnursery.com.au/product/linospadix-monostachya-walking-stick-palm/
Diploglottis australis (SAPINDACEAE) Native Tamarind Save our Waterways Now Ennogera Catchment care, The Gap, QLD http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01_cms/details_pop.asp?ID=151
Dry Rainforest Trees (2016) Toowoomba Plants: Natives of the Region suitable for Gardens https://toowoombaplants2008.blogspot.com/search?q=native+tamarind
Heaton, R (2014) Bush Food for Children of the Northern Rivers : Federal Community Bush Food Living Classroom. Federal Community Children’s Centre, Federal.
The Fruit Gardener (2017) Queensland Bushfood Association.
http://ausbushfoods.com/index.php/plants/100-the-fruit-gardener
Tuckerbush (2019) Indoor gardening with native bushfood plants.
https://tuckerbush.com.au/indoor-gardening-with-native-bushfood-plants/
Wrigley,J & Fagg, M (2007) Australian Native Plants : Cultivation, Use in Landscaping and Propagation. Reed New Holland, Australia.
Edible and Useful - Walking Stick Palm
With showy spikes of cream flowers and edible red berries, perfect to nibble whilst gardening, the Walking Stick Palm Linospadix monostachyos is a small attractive plant.
A sub-tropical rainforest understorey plant, common within its range from Taree in north eastern NSW up to Gympie in south eastern Queensland and at altitudes up to 1200m, the Walking Stick palm often grows in colonies (sometimes up to 6-8 plants per square metre) alongside the Bangalow Palm Archontophoenix cunninghamiana.
A slow-growing delicate palm that rarely grows taller than 2m, it has a slender single-stemmed trunk with attractive bamboo-like rings. It lacks a crownshaft but has a dense crown of weeping fronds of glossy dark green leaves 30 -100 cm long. Feather-like, the leaves have a flat end and look almost as if they have been torn across. Long drooping spikes of flowers are followed by bright red berries. The plant’s common name comes from the strong straight stem which remains consistently around 3cm and was harvested post- World War 1 to make walking sticks for returned wounded soldiers. A comfortable hand grip was carved from the compact root ball found at the base of the stem.
Position
The Walking Stick Palm’s natural habitat is cool and humid due to the deep shade provided by the canopy so it prefers a shady sheltered spot, but will grow in filtered sun. It thrives in sub-tropical or tropical areas but being a hardy plant, once established it will also grow in cooler temperate climates. It dislikes extremes in temperature though, so keep it in a sheltered understorey position to help maintain constant temperatures and best mimic it’s natural habitat. Not generally suitable for areas of frost, however there is some evidence of success if an adequate microclimate can be established.
Especially good for small courtyards and is suitable for pot culture almost indefinitely due to its small size and slow growth rates. If inside, put in a warm low sun to dappled light position and provide regular spells outside in a shady spot.
Water Use
As this palm naturally occurs in very wet areas of the ranges (up to 3000mm of rainfall per year) it ideally prefers moist well-drained soils, so water well especially in early stages after planting. Once established it is more drought tolerant. Mulch well to help maintain moisture in soil and to reduce the need for extra watering.
For a potted plant keep the soil regularly moist and provide adequate drainage and aeration (a shallow layer of rocks or broken clay pots in the bottom of the pot will do the trick.
Soil and Fertiliser
Being a rainforest understory plant it likes humus-rich soil, so apply plenty of organic matter and a generous application of mulch. Potted palms need regular feeding with complete fertiliser and/or compost matter.
Flowering and Fruiting
The walking stick palm looks spectacular when flowering. It has unbranched long pendulous green to cream flower spikes to 1m from August to October, followed by drooping long strings of small bright red edible berries in Autumn. About 1cm in diameter, the fruits are waxy and cylindrical or oval-shaped with a thin fleshy layer surrounding a single seed. Time till first fruit and flowers is about 5 years.
Pests and Disease
Generally free from serious pests and diseases.
Propagation
Propagation is from seed which germinates reliably (over 90%) but slowly and may take between one month up to one year. Seedings are very slow initially and tender so handle carefully until about 20cm high when they are more hardy. Growth rate increases after 1-2 years.
Harvest
The small fruit is edible when bright red and fully ripe.
Pruning
Remove spent leaves at the base as they form.
Uses
Berries are sweet with a peppery aftertaste and have also been described as tasting like a nashi pear. Often a great source of vitamins, small native fruits played an important part in traditional Aboriginal diets. New shoots are also edible but harvesting will kill the plant. Crash survivors were kept alive for nine days by eating Walking Stick Palm berries after their Stinson mail plane went down in Lamington National Park in 1937.
Indigenous people are said to have used the stem for a spear and fishing rod and stripped the leaves and used the fine lining as string.
Other Benefits
The bright red berries attract birds (this is how the seed is dispersed) as well as the yellow and orange palm dart butterfly.
Availability
Available from specialised native nurseries – see links in references below.
References
Burringbar Rainforest Nursery – Upper Burringbar, NE NSW. www.burringbarrainforestnursery.com.au/product/linospadix-monostachya-walking-stick-palm/
Cronin, L (2009) Cronin’s Key Guide: Australian Rainforest Plants, Jacana Books an imprint of Allen & Unwin Australia
Daley’s Fruit Tree Nursery. www.daleysfruit.com.au/Walking-Stick-Palm-Linospadix-monostachya.htm
Wrigley,J & Fagg, M (2007) Australian Native Plants : Cultivation, Use in Landscaping and Propagation. Reed New Holland, Australia.
Tweed Shire Council (2017) My Local Native Garden: A planting guide to promote biodiversity in Tweed Shire
Palmpedia. https://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Linospadix_monostachyos
Paton Park Native Nursery.
www.ppnn.org.au/plantlist/linospadix-monostachya. http://www.ppnn.org.au/plantlist/linospadix-monostachya/
Sydney Morning Herald (2002) In a Hero’s Footsteps.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/in-a-heros-footsteps-20020625-gdfe7y.html
Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia (2014) Linospadix Monostachyos. http://www.pacsoa.org.au/w/index.php?title=Linospadix_monostachya
Toowoomba Plants : Natives of the Region Suitable for Gardens (2010) Walking Stick Palm .
http://toowoombaplants2008.blogspot.com/2010/03/walking-stick-palm.html
Native Ginger
Native ginger Alpinia caerulea/coerulea is an attractive, easy to grow feature plant and also a bushfood with a mild, tangy ginger flavour. A perennial clumping herb, also known as wild ginger or blue ginger, it has wide, glossy green leaves and bright blue berries and grows up to two metres high and one metre wide. Although it is an understorey plant naturally found in and near the margins of coastal rainforests or disturbed areas from north of Sydney to Cape York, it is an attractive and useful bushfood plant for your garden.
A relative of edible ginger, cardamom, turmeric and galangal, native ginger also grows from a spicy underground rhizome and both the young root tips, shoots and the fruits are edible. Australian indigenous people traditionally ate the roots and shoots and used the tangy flesh around the seeds to encourage salivation while walking through the forest. It is said that these people's pathways could be detected by the trail of discarded seeds.
Position
Though native ginger prefers full shade and moist well-drained soil, it is a very hardy plant and will tolerate part to full sun (though very hot sun can burn the leaves). Being understorey plants with tall upright stems they are best positioned for protection from strong or dry winds. In their native tropical and subtropical climates native ginger will thrive - in fact, in the tropical north be careful of it taking over - but even in temperate climates they will do well without much maintenance. In climates well outside their natural range try planting in full shade and keep well-watered and mulched for best results. Not frost tolerant, they are unsuitable for areas of frost unless a correct microclimate can be established.
Lush green foliage (and the attractive red under-leaves of the ‘Atherton’ variety) makes native ginger very suitable for use as a feature or focal plant. It’s a good plant for garden borders or around a pool, to fill gaps and narrow spaces or for mass plantings. In its preferred climate it is also an effective plant for erosion control.
Native ginger also makes a great indoor plant. Though it may not flower or fruit as readily, the roots will carry on growing provided it is getting adequate water and nutrients so why not place a large pot near the kitchen for easy harvesting.
Water Use
Plants will tolerate periods of dry but prefer moist soil, so water in extended dry periods.
Soil and Fertiliser
Being a rainforest understory plant that ideally prefers humus-rich soil, feel free to prepare soil by adding compost and fertilise regularly with organic liquid fertiliser or worm juice for lush new growth. Mulch well before Summer. Will tolerate most soil types including sandy soil.
Flowering and Fruiting
Native ginger bears a stalk of small fragrant white flowers in spring and summer followed by attractive round blue fruits that last on the plant for several months. The fruits (10-18mm in diameter) have a brittle shell-like outer coating containing a mass of black seeds surrounded by a white edible pulp that is very scant but pleasantly lemony.
Pests and Disease
Generally free from serious pests and diseases, native ginger is a great plant to try in chemical-free gardens.
Propagation
Propagation is by seed or rhizome. The seeds don’t like being fussed over, so try sowing as soon as ripe, then leave alone and they should germinate in about 2 months. However, the preferred method of propagation is by dividing the underground stem. So, if you know someone with a plant or you already have some in the garden, the rhizome is easily divided to make new plants and the vigorous root system allows it to establish quickly. Take care not to damage the parent plant.
Harvest
To harvest roots, dig up rhizomes from the edge of the plant to find the new growing tips. This way you can enjoy the best edible part of the plant without removing it entirely or damaging the plant. Berries can be picked straight from the plant. Cut flowers and foliage make attractive indoor decoration.
Pruning
Prune as the leaves age and if the plant becomes really untidy, cut off stems to the ground and new shoots will replace those removed.
Uses
Used mostly for storing water and energy, underground roots and tubers are amongst some of the most nutritious bushfoods. Native ginger is high in vitamin B and minerals. (*1)
Rhizomes –With native ginger the young growing tips of the creeping rhizome can be eaten raw or cooked. Raw they are crunchy and refreshing with a mild gingery flavour. In cooking they can be used as a ginger substitute though they have a milder, less spicy taste. They can be used in savoury dishes like curries as a substitute, or in addition to, ginger or galangal, as well as in desserts and marmalades.
Fruit – The pulp that surrounds the seeds is edible but scanty and eaten raw has a pleasant tangy taste. There are a lot of seeds, which arguably shouldn’t be eaten, so sucking off the flesh is just a taste. Only eat berries when ripe (blue not green). Whole fruits and seeds were traditionally dried and ground to add a sour flavour and red colouring to herbal tea.
Shoots – The underground rhizome sends up new shoots which are also edible raw or cooked and have a mild ginger taste.
Leaves – Great for wrapping food for cooking to impart a slight gingery taste. Try wrapping fish or fresh prawns before steaming.
Other Benefits
A sustainable native garden can provide habitat for native wildlife and native ginger is no exception. The bright blue berries are not only tasty to humans but attract a variety of wildlife including lizards, birds, bees, butterflies and other insects.
Recipes
Lemon Myrtle Chicken with Native Ginger
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/recipes/char-grilled-lemon-myrtle-chicken-with-native-ginger-cooking-wit/8928394
Native Ginger Curry
https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/newsletter/oct2002.htm
Ingredients:
1 tsp vegetable oil
4 tsp finely chopped native ginger root
1 native ginger shoot (Cut into 1cm pieces)
1 tsp red or green curry paste
1 tsp palm sugar
2 lemon ironbark leaves
1 tsp finely chopped Dorrigo Pepper
400ml coconut milk
½ cup cubed sweet potato
½ cup cubed bunya nuts
Your choice of vegetables
Method:
Using vegetable oil sauté the native ginger and curry paste.
Add the coconut milk and reduce by 2/3.
Add the palm sugar, Dorrigo pepper and lemon Ironbark in the final stages.
At the start of the coconut cream reduction, add the native ginger shoot, small cubes of sweet potato and bunya nuts. Steam vegetables separately and serve on the cinnamon myrtle rice. Pour native curry sauce over the top and garnish with native ginger leaf and julienne capsicum.
References
Cribb, A.B & J.W (1974) Wild Food in Australia. Collins, Sydney.
Fern, K (2014) Useful Tropical Plants Database http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Alpinia+caerulea
Hiddins, L (2001) Bush Tucker Field Guide. Penguin Books Australia.
(*1) Weatherhead, J (2016) Australian Native Food Harvest – a Guide for the Passionate Cook and Gardener Peppermint Ridge Farm.
Wrigley,J & Fagg, M (2007) Australian Native Plants : Cultivation, Use in Landscaping and Propagation. Reed New Holland, Australia.
My Local Native Garden: A planting guide to promote biodiversity in Tweed Shire (2017) Tweed Shire Council.
Rainforest Bush Tucker Guide (2018) Sunshine Coast Council. https://www.mary-cairncross.com.au/rainforest-bushtucker-guide.php