Ethnobotanical plants

Native to New Zealand and particularly to wet and marshy coastal areas, New Zealand Flax provides dense vegetated cover with its broad strappy leaves that offer cover to nesting sites of Yellow Eyed Penguin in south-east of south island New Zealand.

Joseph Banks recognised the importance of New Zealand Flax to the Maori of New Zealand on his visit aboard HMS Endeavour noting in his journal:

“Of the leaves of these plants with very little preparation all their common wearing apparel are made and all Strings, lines and Cordage for every purpose, and that of a strength so much superior to hemp as scarce to bear a comparison with it. From the same leaves also by another preparation a kind of snow white fibres are drawn, shining almost as silk and likewise surprisingly strong, of which all their finer clothes are made; and of the leaves without any other preparation than splitting them into proper breadths and tying those strips together are made their fishing nets”.

Peppercorn Tree is not related to true peppers but is a member of the Anacardiaceae, a plant family including Mango, Cashew and Pistachio.

Native from Peru southwards through Chile, it was spread by Spanish settlers who discovered that its hard wood was especially useful in making saddles. Today it is a significant weed in dryland areas throughout the world.

It is the source of pink peppercorns that are often blended into commercial pepper mixes though for native peoples it had diverse other uses including natural dyeing using its leaves, its seeds were used to produce chicha, a fermented alcoholic drink and the outer part of the ripe fruit used to make a syrup for dilution.

The species name ‘bidwillii’ commemorates John Carne Bidwill, 1815-1853, who migrated to Australia from England and rose to be inaugural director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens in 1847, holding the position until the permanent Director, Charles Moore arrived in Australia in January 1848. Bidwill introduced Bunya-Bunya Pine to the international botanical world through William Jackson Hooker, Director of Kew Gardens in 1843 though the traditional land owners in Australia had long celebrated Bunyas.

The form of the tree made it immensely popular as a garden subject within nineteenth century gardenesque gardens and these trees continue to grow as mature specimens in many Victorian gardens.

Local Aboriginal families each took care of a grove of Bunyas, passing their care and “ownership” from generation to generation. The large seeds within the cones were eaten following roasting at large festivals, people gathering from long distances to share the nutrient rich food.

Thousands of people assembled for several months, not only to devour the seeds but also to discuss community issues, trade and marriage. Heavy seed crops were produced at between two and seven year intervals so these community gatherings were occasional rather than regular events.

Miscanthus is native to eastern Asia, including Japan where it occupies a special place in Japanese life and culture. Present as a symbol on many signs throughout Japan, it grows on vacant pieces of land where its silvery flower plumes and drying foliage take on particular beauty in autumn.

Stems of Miscanthus are used to thatch traditional temples, homes and outbuildings, thick layers of grass stems being laid at the slope of the roof to shed water and, in winter, snow. Traditional roofs of grass are rare today but can be seen in country areas, replaced after 25 years or so. Internal central hearths and the smoke they produced controlled insects and other pests within the dry grass roof.

Miscanthus’s readily identifiable flower heads are a constant theme in Japanese design, fabrics for example, but today Japanese love to walk through mature stands of grasses grown in meadows. Miscanthus features in Japanese poetry and folk art, the joy being that the Japanese find beauty in something so common and familiar.

Miscanthus sinensis is regarded as an environmental weed in NSW and is potentially very invasive in Victoria, currently listed on the "weed alert" list. The plant forms large, dense tussocks which can prevent the germination and growth of native plants, with land particularly at risk after disturbance and bushfires.

Use of the bark of willow for its pain-killing properties is known to have occurred in the Sumer civilisation of southern Mesopotamia approximately 5,000 years ago; its use was described on clay tablets and later described on papyrus from ancient Egypt and widely used in classical Greece. Hippocrates discussed use of salicylic tea to reduce fevers and as a pain moderator during childbirth around 2,500 years ago.

Dioscorides, 40-90, a Greek physician and pharmacologist described its use in his 5 volume De materia medica, a book that was to be the most influential medical encyclopaedia for the next 1,500 years. Being distributed through the Roman world and ultimately through the Arab world, it ensured familiarity with the use of Willow as a pain moderator throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.

In the nineteenth century scientists synthesised the active ingredients in the laboratory, eventually introducing it in aspirin, but the Willow remains a botanical pharmacopeia.

The use of Willow in landscape planting is now discouraged due to its status as an environmental weed.

Medlar (Mespilus germanica) is now rarely grown in gardens though historically it was broadly known, grown in orchards and commonly named in literature of the time. A small tree to 8 metres though more commonly found as a large shrub with low branches, and native to south-east Europe, the Black Sea area and around south-western Asia, it grows best with warm summers and mild winters. Parts of south-eastern Australia suit it well.

Introduced into Greece by 700BCE and Rome by 200BCE it remained a widely grown fruit into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries but is now less familiar because improved varieties of apples and pears are available.

Historically, fruit was difficult to store but Medlar was eaten when bletted, a stage of incipient decay which resulted in the fruit softening with increased sugar levels. Hard as Medlars are in autumn, they ripen through early winter to become soft and edible providing fresh fruit when other fruit had rotted.

Medlar is not alone in being eaten when bletted. Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) and quince (Cydonia obliqua) are similar. For those not enthusiastic about bletting Medlars they can also be used to produce a jelly.

Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) has been used for thousands of years as stock feed in the Middle East and, in periods of famine, as human food. Wild plants are still found in the eastern Mediterranean though now most commonly cultivated in Portugal and Morocco.

Growing to 15 metres with spreading low branches that may be pruned back to form small trees, Carob requires as little as 250mm of rainfall though rarely fruits without 500-550mm per annum.

Generally male and female flowers are borne on different plants, so both are required to produce a crop. Flowers are borne at the same time as fruit and on old wood even being produced down the main trunks, a process known as cauliflory that allows pollination by tree climbing mammals. Pollination of Carob is mostly by wind and insects.

Carob is in the Fabaceae, the family of peas and beans though unlike many other members of the family, there appears to be no evidence that Carob fixes nitrogen in the soil.

Carob has given its name to the word carat, a measure of weight for gold and gemstones based on an incorrect belief that the seeds of Carob weighed a consistent amount allowing assaying of valuable items in different locations. Carat derives from the Greek word ‘keration’, a carob seed.

Yew (Taxus baccata) long found in British churchyards, partly because Christian churches were constructed on ancient worship sites where yew was planted as a symbol but also to ensure parishes had wood available to make long bows, vital to medieval English military success. Yew also gave its name to many English towns including York.

Yew wood is among the hardest of “softwood’ timbers, easy to work with remarkable elasticity, perfect for items needing springiness, including bows. A 400,000 year old yew spearhead is amongst the oldest wooden artifacts known to exist and the oldest yew longbow has been dated to 4040BCE - 3640BCE.

By 1294, yew bowstaves were being imported into Britain because of inadequate local supply of timber. The Statute of Westminster of 1472 required every ship coming to England to provide four yew bow staves for every tun of imported material.

A tun was a measure of liquid-wines, oils and honey- so effectively this was a wine tax! Richard III, reigned 1483-1485, raised this to 10 bow staves per tun. Yew resultantly became scarce throughout European forests and the price increased, from 2 pounds per hundred in 1483 to 8 pounds per hundred and by 1510 Venetian traders would only sell 100 bowstaves for 16 pounds. Eventually there were no yew staves to be had but by then guns were being introduced into war!

Today Yew forests are once more under siege from pharmaceutical companies seeking to use extracts from European Yew to provide anti-cancer drugs first identified in the rarer and slower growing Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia). Identification of a semi-synthetic pathway has allowed extracts from the foliage of other Yews to replace this species.

Deodar (Cedrus deodara) derives from Sanskrit words, deva, God, and daru, wood and tree, the Tree of the Gods! Native to western and south-western Himalayas including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Tibet and Nepal, Deodar has traditionally been used as timber for its durable rot resistant, fine, close grain timber that carries a high polish. The timber of traditional temples and supremely workable, it has little tensile strength.

Used to construct the houseboats of Srinigar, Kashmir, the British also realised that its timber had fungicidal qualities and repelled insects; they constructed spice and edible grain stores and meat stores from its timber.

Its aromatic qualities are used for incense and distilled into essential oils.

Deodar is widely planted as a large growing tree in parks and gardens where it may grow to 30 to 40 metres. In its natural habitat it may reach 60 metres. It is readily differentiated from other Cedars by its downward growing branchlets.