Castanospermum australe - Morton Bay Chestnut Flowers

Really splendid this one

Very common tree in our rainforests and was used as bush tucker but not any more. The starchy seeds are actually poisonous and were only eaten by the Aborigines after lots of preparation. The seeds were cracked and soaked in water, then pounded , and made into cakes, and finally roasted. The washing in water removes some of the soluble toxins, while roasting destroys other toxins. The plant is not used in modern day bush tucker preparations.

GORGEOUS

What color! Beautiful! Interesting info Bernieh... the Aborigines must have really liked the taste, with all that prep work!

Charlieb - they were (and many still are) expert at using what was available. Does make you wonder though - how long did it take before they found the right way to prepare and how many were poisoned in the meantime?

Thanks everyone for the comments and compliment!

Bernieh, thanks for the information! This is such a beautiful tree espcially when viewing a very large blooming tree.

Morton Bay Chestnut was introduced into CA. decades ago...probably in the 1930's or possibly earlier.