Microseris lanceolata

Microseris lanceolata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Microseris
Species:	M. lanceolata
Binomial name
Microseris lanceolata

Microseris lanceolata (syn. M. scapigera) is a perennial herb also known as murnong and yam daisy. It is found in many forms in Australia (Victoria) and on the island of Tasmania, the Tasmanian form being markedly smaller than the mainland Australian form.

Biological descriptions

A variable species, it has the form of a tufted rosette of toothed lanceolate leaves. The flower stalk is notable for its curious behaviour: pendulous before flowering, it becomes erect for flowering, lifting the flower to the attention of pollinators, then becomes pendulous again until the seed head ripens, at which time it becomes erect again, exposing the seed head to the best possible wind exposure. The 'flower' is a yellow head of florets, reminiscent of a dandelion. The seed heads ripen to a cluster of fluffy, tan achenes, each having a crown of fine extensions called a pappus. Seed dispersal is by wind.

Cultivation and uses

The species has edible tuberous roots and was once an important source of food for people of Australia and Tasmania. The introduction of cattle, sheep and goats by Europeans led to the near extinction of Murnong, with calamitous results for Aborigines who depended upon Murnong for a large part of their food. Murnong was prepared by roasting or pit baking; the taste is described as "sweet with a flavour of coconut".

Gallery

• 

  Murnong clock

• 

  Murnong seed comparison; Tasmanian form on left, Australian form on right

References

1. Cribb, A.B. & J.W. (1974), Wild Food in Australia, pgs 150-15
2. Gott, Beth (1982). "Ecology of Root Use by the Aborigines of Southern Australia". Archaeology in Oceania 17 (1): 59–67. doi:10.2307/40386580.  edit
3. Frankel, D. (1982). "An account of Aboriginal use of the yam-daisy". The Artefact 7 (1–2): 43–5. 
4. Gott, Beth (1983). "Murnong - Microseris scapigera: A study of a staple food of Victorian Aborigines". Australian Aboriginal Studies 2: 2–17. 
5. Gott, Beth (1987). "Murnong — a Victorian staple food: some nutritional implications.". In Graeme K. Ward (ed). Archaeology at ANZAAS. The 54th Congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, May 1984, Section 25A: Archaeology. Canberra: Canberra Archaeological Society. pp. 111-114. ISBN 9780958862509. 
6. Incoll, L. D.; Bonnett, G. D.; Gott, Beth (1989). "Fructans in the underground storage organs of some Australian plants used for food by aborigines". Journal of Plant Physiology 134 (2): 196–202.  (Congress: International symposium on fructan. 1 1988)
7. Gott, Beth; Conran, John (1991), Victorian Koorie plants : some plants used by Victorian Koories for food, fibre, medicines and implements, Hamilton and Western District Museum. Yangennanock Women's Group, Aboriginal Keeping Place, ISBN 064603846X 
8. Zola, Nelly; Gott, Beth (1992). Koorie plants, Koorie people : traditional Aboriginal food, fibre and healing plants of Victoria. Melbourne: Koorie Heritage Trust. ISBN 1875606106. 
9. Gott, Beth (1993). "Use of Victorian plants by Koories". In Foreman, Don B.; Walsh, Neville G.. Flora of Victoria. 1. Melbourne: Inkata Press. pp. 195–211. ISBN 0909605769. 
10. Lunt, Ian D. (1996). "A transient soil seed bank for the Yam-daisy Microseris scapigera". Victorian Naturalist 113: 16–19. 
11. Gott, Beth (2008). "Indigenous use of plants in south-eastern Australia". Telopea 2 (215): 226.