St Ives Food and Medecine Garden

Native Plants

Common/scientific name	Description	Traditional uses
Slender Mat Rush Lomandra Hystrix	Mat rush is a spiky grass-like plant that form large tussocks up to 1m. The leaves are flat, smooth and up to 15mm wide with two or more jagged tips.	Leaves dried, split and braided to make bags and baskets. Leaf base eaten, has a pea like taste. Seeds roasted and ground into flour to make cakes.
Blue Flax Lily Dianella Caerulea	Tufted herb to 50cm. Hard, stiff glossy leaves 75cm long, 20mm wide. Rich blue flowers with yellow anthers.	Blue berries are eaten raw. Sweet flavour, which becomes nutty when chewed. Leaves used to make a strong fibre.
Native Grape Cissus Hypoglauca	Large woody climber, stems to several metres. Yellowish flowers. Black/purple grapes, 1-2cm diameter.	Fruit has been used to make a gargle for sore throats. Fruits can be eaten.
Hop Bush Dodonaea	2-4m high shrub. Colourful fruits. Sticky leathery leaves.	Traditionally used to treat tooth ache, cuts and stingray stings.
Native Raspberry Rubus Moluccanus	Scrambling prickly shrub with 1m long stems. Red or pink flowers. Red juicy fruit 10mm in diameter	Tea made from the leaves relieves stomach upsets. Has been used for cases of diarrhoea. Fruit varies in taste, can be very good.
Tasmanian Pepperberry Tasmannia Lanceolata	A female Tasmanian pepper has smaller flowers and fewer petals than the male. Only the females produce the distinctively spicy hot pepperberries.	Treatment of sore gums and toothaches. When the berries were crushed a paste was made by adding water and then applied to the area of infection.
White Aspen Acronychia oblongifolia	A small-to-medium rainforest tree with the fruit having a crisp texture with a strong citrus flavour.	Used for food The leaf buds and leaves can be used to heal various burns and irritation. Helps to alleviate various types of body aches and nerve pains. Also mild urinary tract infections
Cinnamon Myrtle Backhousia Myrtifolia	A small tree whose leaves have a spicy, cinnamon-like fragrance.	The leaves used for cooking and to make calming tea useful for dyspepsia, heartburn, colic and the digestive system. The tree’s wood for tools.
Creek Lilly Pilly Syzygium Smithii	Summer flowering, evergreen tree. Cream and green smooth waxy leaves. Pink to mauve edible berries.	Commonly eaten wherever grown. Tart or a cranberry-like flavour.
Mountain Devil Lambertia Formosa	Shrub to 2m high. Named from its beaked and 2 horned woody fruit resembling a devil. Spiky leaves. Brightly coloured red flowers.	Flower is broken off for nectar. Commonly used as a pacifier for the young children of the area.
Pigface Carpobrotus Glaucescens	Creeping Herb (succulent). Grows mainly on sand dunes. Bright pink flowers with green succulent leaves.	Fruit is good to eat when purple. Salty strawberry. Leaves are edible after steaming but salty. Leaves when crushed or chewed releaves insect stings.
Geebung Persoonia pinifolia	Ranges from 2m to 4m high. 42 different species in all states except NT. Very important understory in woodlands. Grows an abundance of edible berries. Berries rich in vitamin C.	Fruits eaten when purple. Tastes like custard.
Apple Berry Billardiera Scandens	A slender climber or scrambler with stems to about 3m long. Leaves are soft and often furry. Flowers are cream and droop from the stems	Fruits eaten when purple and furry to touch. Used to make fishing nets and ropes from stems.
Plum Pine Podocarpus elatus	An Australian pine with dark green, shiny, narrow leaves which create a dense screen or canopy. Its fruit is a vivid purple with a plum/pine flavour	Traditional landowners eat the fruit as a food source, and are now most prominently used to create jams and condiments.
Wombat Berry Eustrephus latifolius	A fairly small and delicate climber. Its stems can reach up to 6m long but remain slender. Produces round bright orange fruit split and expose shiny, black seeds.	The fleshy root tubers are edible with an earthy, sweet taste and were eaten by Aboriginal people both raw and baked.

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Native Plants