340 Roots and other indigenous Esculents 



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the decaying roots of the strin^jy bark tree, produces bulb tubers 

 growing one out of another, of the size, and nearly the form, of 

 kidney potatoes : the lowermost is attached by a bundle of thick 

 fleshy fibres to the root of the tree from which it derives its 

 nourishment. These roots are roasted and eaten by the abori- 

 gines ; in taste they resemble beet-root, and are sometimes called 

 in the colony native potatoes. 



There are also a few other native plants that produce small 

 tubers, which are eaten by the aboriginal population, but none 

 of them are worthy of being compared with the common potato 

 or turnip. 



The native blacks of Van Diemen's Land split open about a 

 foot and a half of the top of the trunk of the common tree-fern 

 of the colony (Cibotium Billardierz), and take out the heart, in 

 substance resembling a Swedish turnip, and of the thickness of 

 a man's arm. This they also roast in the ashes, and eat as 

 bread ; but it is too bitter and astringent to suit an English 

 palate. It is said that the aborigines prefer the heart of Als6- 

 phila australis, a larger species of fern tree, found at Macquarie 

 Harbour, and in other places on the western side of Van Diemen's 

 Land. 



A species of tuber is often found in the colony, attaining to 

 the size of a child's head : it is known by the name of native 

 bread ; its taste somewhat resembles boiled rice. Like the heart 

 of the tree fern, and the root of the native potato, cookery pro- 

 duces little change in its character. I have often asked the 

 aborigines how they found the native bread, and have uni- 

 versally received the answer — a rotten tree. 



An esculent fungus is found jrrowing in clusters around 

 swollen portions of the branches of the myrtle of the colony 

 (Setula antarctica; this tree is not a ^etula) [? JPagus ^etulbides ; 

 see first Add. Sup. Hort. Brit.\ in the western part of the island. 

 It varies from the size of a marble to that of a walnut ; when young, 

 it is of a pale colour, whitish, and covered with a skin like that 

 of a young potato : this skin is easily taken off, and the remaining 

 portion, when raw, tastes like cold cow-heel. When this fungus 

 is matured, the skin splits and exhibits a sort of network of a 

 yellowish white colour. 



The large white fungus, called in the colony punk, which grows 

 from the stringy bark tree, is said to be eaten when fresh by the 

 aborigines. 



It is almost unnecessary to mention the common mushroom, 

 so abundant in many parts of the island, and of so agreeable a 

 flavour : it seems to be precisely the same as the mushroom of 

 England (y^garicus campestris). 



The blanched portion of the base of the inner leaves of some 

 rushes, and of a flat sedgy plant growing on the sand-hills of the 



