Castanospermum australe - Morton Bay Chestnut Flowers
By Delonix1
9 Jul, 2009
6 likes
A close up of the flowering Morton Bay Chestnut tree. They are very
beautiful in bloom. It can become a very large tree in time. Photo taken at Quail Botanical Garden on July 7, 2009.
Comments on this photo
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.
9 Jul, 2009
GORGEOUS
9 Jul, 2009
What color! Beautiful! Interesting info Bernieh... the Aborigines must have really liked the taste, with all that prep work!
9 Jul, 2009
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?
9 Jul, 2009
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.
9 Jul, 2009
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Really splendid this one
9 Jul, 2009