Horticultural development of Australian native edible plants

Abstract

The Australian native edible plant industry is rapidly expanding. We provide a review of the horticultural research that has been carried out on the top 14 commercially significant Australian native edible plants; Acacia spp. Miller (wattle), Acronychia acidula F.Muell. (lemon aspen), Backhousia citriodora F.Muell. (lemon myrtle), Eremocitrus glauca (Lindl.) Burkill (desert lime) and Microcitrus spp. Swingle (native lime), Hibiscus heterophyllus Vent. and Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (rosella), Kunzea pomifera F.Muell. (muntries), Podocarpus elatus R.Br. ex Endl. (Illawarra plum), Prostanthera spp. La Billardiere (native mint), Santalum acuminatum R.Br. (quandong), Solanum centrale Black (bush tomato), Syzygium leuhmannii F.Muell. (riberry), Tasmannia spp. R.Br. (native pepper), Terminalia ferdinandiana (= T. latipes Benth. subsp. psilocarpa Pedley) (kakadu plum) and Tetragonia tetragonioides (Pallas) Kuntze (warrigal greens). The research on most of these species has focused on propagation, breeding, cultivation, nutritional value and the isolation of natural products. On none of the species has research been completed in all these areas, and three species have no research published on them. We describe horticultural research on two other commercial species, Backhousia anisata Vickery (aniseed myrtle) and Davidsonia pruriens F.Muell. var. pruriens and var. jerseyana (Davidson’s plum), and one species with commercial potential, Pringlea antiscorbutica R.Br. ex Hook.f. (kerguelen cabbage). We identify areas that require further research and issues of concern, such as indigenous intellectual property rights and environmental implications.