- Marsdenia australis
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Marsdenia australis Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Asterids Order: Gentianales Family: Apocynaceae Subfamily: Asclepiadaceae Genus: Marsdenia Species: M. australis Binomial name Marsdenia australis
(R.Br.) Druce[1]Synonyms Leichardtia australis R.Br.
Marsdenia australis, commonly known as the bush banana, silky pear or green vine is an Australian native plant. It is found in Central Australia and throughout Western Australia. It is a bush tucker food for Aborigines.[2]
M. australis has many different names in Aboriginal languages. In the Arrernte language of Central Australia; merne alangkwe (older transcription: elonka[3]), merne ulkantyerrknge (the flowers) and merne altyeye (the prefix merne signifies plant food). It can be eaten small or fully grown. The small fruits are called amwerterrpe. Kalgoorlie, Western Australia takes its name from the a Wangai word, Karlkurla, meaning "place of the silky pears".
The flowers hang in clusters and can also be eaten, as can the main part of the plant (altyeye in Arrernte).
Bush bananas are cooked in hot earth beside the fire or eaten raw when young (the flavour has been likened to fresh peas). The root of the plant is called Merne atnetye and can also be eaten raw or cooked. The very white roots are cooked in the hot earth close to the fire.
All parts of the bush banana plant are still eaten in the desert today.
One of the significant bush food for the Indigenous Aboriginal people of Australia, the food is often depicted in current Aboriginal art, especially paintings about 'bush tucker', as well as 'Bush Banana Dreaming' paintings.[4]
Footnotes
- ^ "Marsdenia australis". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apni?TAXON_NAME=Marsdenia+australis. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
- ^ Peter Kenneth Latz, Jenny Green, "Bushfires & Bushtucker: Aboriginal Plant Use in Central Australia", IAD Press, 1995, ISBN 0-949659-83-5
- ^ Baldwin Spencer, Francis James Gillen, "The Arunta: a study of a stone age people", Macmillan, 1927, repr. Anthropological Publications, 1966, p.311
- ^ Aboriginal Symbols. Bush Banana - Indigenous Australia - Iconography and Symbols
External links
Categories:- Marsdenia
- Eudicots of Western Australia
- Flora of the Northern Territory
- Bushfood
- Australian Aboriginal bushcraft
- Crops originating from Australia
- Fruit
- Desert fruit
- Drought-tolerant plants
- Gentianales of Australia
- Fruit stubs
- Indigenous peoples of Australia stubs
- Western Australian plant stubs
- Apocynaceae stubs
- Australian asterid stubs
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