We've been really getting into more Bush Tucker species and other interesting edible species lately here at Living Green and Feeling Seedy lately!
These are a few of my favourites at the moment and they can be found on our stores in the Bush Tucker Category.
Diploglottis campbellii - Small Leaved Tamarind
This uncommonly grown Australian native Bush Tucker species is also grows as a small dense evergreen tree usually 7 - 10m tall but taller in its native range in riverine rainforest of NSW and QLD. It has a lovely habit with a spreading crown of glossy green foliage, a grey brown trunk making a great ornamental shade tree!
Small creamy brown flowers occur from late Spring to Summer turning into yellow brown bulbs to 6cm across in late Summer to Autumn, these split open when ripe to reveal the bright red flesh of the fruit - it is a prolific fruiter!
This fruit has a very distinctive taste and is used in both savoury and sweet dishes, jams, sauces, chutney, jelly and also makes a great accompaniment to cheese and meat boards.
It can be kept as a potted specimen with regular pruning and care, I think it would make a really interesting Bonsai specimen!
It can be hedged, grown as a screen, provides shade and attracts birds bees and other insects.
This tree is becoming threatened in the wild so the best thing we can do for this species is to plant some seeds to keep them going!
Hibiscus sabdariffa - Rosella
Hibiscus sabdariffa, commonly known as Rosella, is endemic to India but has now naturalised widely throughout tropical and subtropical countries throughout the world and in Australia Rosella pre-dated European civilisation and is found from the Kimberleys across northern Australia to the east coast.
Rosella is an annual, erect, bushy, herbaceous shrub to some 3m in height, with smooth or nearly smooth, cylindrical, typically red stems. Flowers are initially in an off-white with a red centre, aging to a dark pink and are up to 12cm in width and appear singly in the leaf axils. They last a day and when spent the red calyx, consisting of 5 large sepals with a collar of slim, pointed bracts around the base, begins to enlarge, becoming fleshy, crisp and juicy. It is this calyx, or seed capsule that is used extensively for jam.
Plants can also be grown in garden beds or plantations and grow well in pots, where the flowers give an attractive, showy display.
Laurus nobilis - Bay Tree
This is a slow growing upright, hardy evergreen tree that can reach up to 15m in its native habitat of Northern Africa, Western Asia and Southern Europe unpruned but usually more like 5 - 6m in cultivation, with deep green, lanceolate foliage that is leathery and aromatic and red brown branches and in Spring, yellow buds occur and open up to clusters of fluffy green to yellow flowers.
The flowers are then followed by glossy, purple black berries on female plants in Summer through to Autumn.
Can be hedged or topiaried, used as a screen, in containers, the leaves are used in cooking and yield an essential oil that is used in perfumery.
Pick leaves at any time and dry them in direct sunshine and store in an airtight container for use in cooking.
Macadamia tetraphylla - Macadamia
A great Australian Rainforest tree that is Indigenous to Australia, growing up to 15m in height, it is densely branched with mid green leaves that have prickly margins, pointed ends and new growth is a reddish colour.
Inflorescences are 10 -25cm long and are axillary on branches and start from late Winter through to mid Spring, the individual flowers are a creamy pink to mauve and are about 10mm long, flowers are pollinated by bees and is self fertile.
Flowers are followed by the fruit which ripens in Summer is 20 - 30mm in diameter, greyish green and turns brown when ripe, the seed inside is delicious raw or cooked!
Pleiogynium timorense - Burdekin Plum
Pleiogynium timorense, commonly known as Burdekin plum is a tropical, rainforest tree which may reach 20m in height but which is usually smaller in cultivation and is found naturally in vine thickets, gallery rainforest and along creek lines in tropical Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
Burdekin Plum has a dark grey trunk and often glossy, compound leaves, they are dark, shiny green with bronze new growth. Flowers are relatively inconspicuous with male and female flowers occurring on separate trees these occur in Winter and Spring and the fruits ripen in Summer and Autumn.
Burdekin Plum are used as a food by Indigenous Australians. The large, black, globular or pumpkin-shaped fruit can vary in taste, those that have red-purplish flesh are quite tart, those with a pale greenish-white flesh are milder but less tasty. Some fruit are half red - half white, and these are delicious!
Fruit do not ripen on the tree, but must be stored, either buried in sand or kept in paper bags in a dark spot for a few days. They can either be eaten raw, cooked into jam or jelly, used to flavour meat, or to make wine. A ripe fruit is mostly water (73%), but has moderate levels of energy, fat, vitamin C and is high in fibre and most minerals.
The timber is regarded as one of the best native timbers by wood turners.
More Bush Tucker varieties and lots of other types of seeds available on our Seedy Webstore 24/7, the shop is always open for business and if you have an enquiry for bulk lots please send an email through to me at jazz@livinggreenandfeelingseedy.com or send a message through our website!
Don't forget we have Seedy eGift Cards available, the perfect gift for any occasion that any plant lover would appreciate!
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