Bush Tucker Plant Food - Tubers

NEW: Australian Bush Food Plant Quiz (Bush Tucker and Edible Weeds).

See also: Bush Tucker Plant Foods Index

This page shows some tuber-bearing bush tucker food plants that can be found in the Sydney and Blue Mountains regions. Most of them can be found in other parts of Australia, and a some are found in other parts of the world also.

A tuber is the swollen base of the underground stem of a plant (for example, a potato). Most bush tucker food plants have tubers that are much smaller than modern cultivated potatoes, thought in some cases there may be hundreds of underground tubers per square metre.

Tubers are the most useful wilderness survival plant foods. There are four main types of plant that have tubers: Vines, freshwater plants, lilies and ground orchids (though not all tubers fit into one of these categories). Most watercourses are home to at least one tuber-bearing plant, and this habitat should always be searched first. The tubers of all rushes and sedges are edible raw (that is assuming the water is not polluted).

WARNING: Never eat plants that are growing in an area where they may have been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides (weed killers), or where the water supply to the area could be polluted, such as from urban or industrial run-off. Never eat any part of any wild growing plant unless you are certain you can identify it. Being certain means you have developed a maturity of skill in identifying plants. It does not mean you are pretty sure it looks just like "that plant you saw once on some website".

Click on the pictures to show more information about each of the different food species.

Caladenia Lady Fingers Ground Orchids
Eustrephus latifolius Wombat Berry Twining climber
Geitonoplesium cymosum Scrambling Lily
Glossodia Waxlip Orchids Ground orchids
Glycine tabacina Love Creeper
Ipomoea cairica Coastal Morning Glory Some Ipomoea species are poisonous
Lepironia articulata Grey Sedge Freshwater plant with tall round stems
Thysanotus tuberosus Common Fringed Lily
Trachymene incisa Wild Parsnip
Triglochin Water Ribbons
Typha Bulrush / Cattails

Bush Tucker Plant Foods Index
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bush plant tubers tucker

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