How2Day: Native Bush Tucker Plants

Outback plants provided sustenance to Aboriginal Australians. McDaniel Woolf/Valueline/Getty Images
Australia is home to some of the world's most unusual plants, and the fact that many are edible only makes them more incredible. Aboriginal Australians living in the outback learned to make food -- commonly known as "bush tucker" -- from the plants they found. Some of these foods are still a part of the Australian diet today.

The quandong is a native Australian fruit included in pies and jams, according to Philip A. Clarke's book "Aboriginal Plant Collectors: Botanists and Australian Aboriginal People in the Nineteenth Century." It is a round red or yellow fruit that hangs from the Santalum acuminatum shrub, which can grow up to 15 feet tall.

The riberry tree, or Syzgium luehmannii, grows in rainforest areas along the Australian coastline. Growing up to 60 feet tall and 18 feet across, it's a huge tree that produces clove-flavored berries in the summer -- which in Australia lasts from December through February.

The Davidson plum -- known as Ooray by Aboriginal Australians -- is a small plum that is blue to burgundy in color, like a grape. Growing on trees up to 32 feet tall, the Davidson plum has a sour flavor similar to other plums. While the Queensland variety thrives, Davidsonia jerseyana in New South Wales is endangered, according to the Australian Native Food Industry Limited website.

Old Man Saltbush, or Atriplex nummularia, thrives in the dry regions of Australia. Its grey-green coloring prevents it from absorbing too much heat from the sun -- a trick to its survival in the hot desert. It grows up to 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Aboriginal Australians used to grind its tiny seeds and roast them to make damper bush bread.

The majestic mulga shrub, or Acacia aneura, is a common sight in the Australian desert, sometimes growing up to 30 feet tall. Although its fruit is inedible, its sap made a sweet treat for Aboriginal Australians and European explorers in the outback. Sometimes they added the sap to water, while other times they drank it right off the plant, according to Horst Weber's "Mulga" article for the Australian Native Plants Society website. Europeans called the sap "bush lollies."

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