Common Name:
Water-ferns

Family name:
Blechnaceae

Botanical name:
Blechnum spp.
e.g. Gristle Fern Blechnum cartilagineum (top photo)

Flowering/fruiting season:
Fruits spring-summer (Flood, 1980)

Location:
Tableland to sub-alpine

Use:

• Food
• Thin starchy rhizomes eaten raw or roasted; common, available late summer to autumn (Flood, 1980:93)

Notes:
Root tastes like a waxy potato but more gelatinous (Gott, 1995)

Language names:

Horticulture :

• Grows in damp conditions in rich, well-composted soil in shaded area. Grows well in pots (Wrigley & Fagg, 1998:202)
• Alpine Water Fern Blechnum penna-marina (bottom photo): in rockeries with ample watering; needs full sun or part shade; grows in most soils; good pot plant (Wrigley & Fagg, 1989:202)

Similar species:
B. longiflora Purple Appleberry - drier, purple fruit - found in cooler, wetter forests (Zola & Gott, 1992:49)

Use code:
ROOT