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wild food plants near you
Since moving to Dicky Beach about 5 years ago I've seen a lot of the suburb and the beaches and dunes and noticed all of hte wild fruiting plants around the place.
Here's a list of what I've found within an hurs walk of home - what do you have growing nearby - and just ready for the taking? monsteria deliciosa - the plants and the fruit guava - several types, cherry, yellow, and a yellow as big as a baseball lilli pilli - dozens of types - nearly all edible, some very nice loquat bananas (I think they are ladyfinger - the possums use them as a food source - our possums are nothing like the ones you have in the USA) prickly pear pigs face (Disphyma australe and Google Image Result for http://www.hartill.net/Oz/Images/IMG_1670.jpg can't find the botanical name for it) oranges, lemons, rough lemon, olives, midyim berry, blue quandong (supposed to be edible, I think the books have just used edible to describe something that isn't poisonous - a foul tasting fruit) and more that don't come to mind just yet |
Re: wild food plants near you
i grow monstera deli... its in my house in the den. its the first season ive had it and i didnt want to take any chances on it. next spring the whole pot will be moved outside till winter. i dont like possoms they stink. lol.
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Re: wild food plants near you
Paradisi - much of what you've listed are not native. So they are left over from old farms, or ?
Have you tried the native or cultivated Apple Berry (Billardiera scandens) ? |
Re: wild food plants near you
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The bananas are growing in the middle of the waterway - the creek only runs when it rains. At one spot there are two clumps of lobster claw heliconia - about 3 metres tall and nearly two square metres each - huge plants. I pick half a dozen or so of the lobster claws when they flower - brilliant as an indoor display. I've seen the apple berry growing in the mountains around Canberra, but haven't noticed it up here - it's supposed to be native to this area too. |
Re: wild food plants near you
Ok, here goes! I'll try to list the natives first. These are generally representative of the bush tucker within an hour's drive of where I am.
Solanum quitoense (Naranjilla) Solanum betaceae (Tamarillo or Tomate de Arbol) Solanum iforgetwhichone (Pepinillo Dulce) Physalis peruviana (Uvilla) Pouteria sapota (Mamey sapote) Fuschia boliviana Passiflora mixto (Taxo) Passiflora ?? (Sachataxo) Passiflora edulis (Maracuya) Passiflora ligularis (Granadilla) Passiflora quadrangulis (Granadilla Gigante) Ananas cosmosus (Pineapple) Bactris gaseapes (Chontaduro) Parajubea cocoides (Quito Palm) Selenocerus megalanthus (Yellow Pitahaya) Carica papaya (Papaya) Vasconcella pentangula (Babaco) Vasconcella spp (other Papaya relatives like the Mito) Annona cherimola (Chirimoya) Annona iforgetwhichone (Guayabana) Uva de Monte (no idea what the species is) Juglans neotropica (Andean black walnut) And the non-natives Musa x cavendish Musa spp (Oritos, Rosados, Sedas, Gros Michel) Monstera deliciosa Colocasia esculenta (Taro) Manihot esculenta (Yucca) Atrocarpus altilis (Breadfruit) Psidium guajava (Guava) Eritrobotium japonica (Loquat) Citrus spp (any number of oranges, lemons, etc.) there are probably more I'm missing; in the bush I can generally just look at a plant and know whether it's food or not. |
Re: wild food plants near you
Wow, that's a list!
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Re: wild food plants near you
Lorax that's brilliant, what a list :nanadrink:
we've got a granadilla struggling over here - we have to hand pollinate - there's nothing here that has figured out the flower is worth going to to get pollen... excellent fruit though... |
Re: wild food plants near you
Thanks, Paradisi. Here, the natural pollinator for Granadillas is a huge black carpenter bee, although they also seem to attract some of the larger brown scarab beetles.
I actually realize that I missed a really important one - Avocadoes! They're everywhere, they're everywhere! And Poma Rosa (Szygium jambos) is almost invasive. |
Re: wild food plants near you
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Show off!!!! :ha: You know how I feel about that list! I haven't had time to start my spanish lessons yet but my husband found some software we had bought for our daughter several years ago. My whole family knows that "Nana" wants to move to Ecuador. My grand daughter is concerned about those volcanos though. Off the top of my head all I can think of around us is blackberries, pokeweed and wild gingsing. I don't touch the pokeweed and am still waiting for a neighbor to walk the woods with my husband to show him what the gingsing looks like. Blackberries are picked on a regular basis while they last though. |
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Re: wild food plants near you
Mostly seagrape and dominican almond with papaya, assorted bananas/plantains and chinola (passion fruit), noni (yuk!), lime - hard to tell which are native (not many I expect) and which are escapees, but these all grow widely in the scrub. Other fruiting trees that no-one seems to be able to identify. (note to self - must try harder to identify - so many fascinating plants - so little time!). People keep saying to me "what do you do all day - how do you fill your time?" and I don't know how to answer as there are not enough hours in the day. I guess that if you only like magazines and painting your nails - then life would be boring here - but if you like plants.....
Cassie |
Re: wild food plants near you
Oh, blackberries! Our own natives are considered an invasive species - they're absolutely everywhere!
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