Restoring landscapes across the Mount Alexander Region

What is in a name? Murnong or Yam Daisy now known as Microseris walteri

Posted on 17 August, 2016 by Connecting Country

The local Murnong or Yam Daisy now also has another name being Microseris walteri. All these names reflect the changes in different human connections to this plant.

Yamdaisy

You could be easily confused thinking that this is a weed but the distinctive drooping flower bud gives it away as a Murnong.

You might be familiar with the pretty yellow flower, long skinny stem and rosette basal leaves, it could also be easily mistaken for a dandelion but it’s not.  It has a radish-shaped tuber, which is renewed each year and a distinctive dropping flower bud. In the spring the plant forms a yellow flower-head, and in the summer the leaves die off and the tuber becomes dormant.

These enduring plants were staple food for indigenous people in Western and Central Victoria before European colonisation. The tubers were cooked in baskets in an earth oven, producing a dark sweet juice which was much liked. Once a common plant, Murnong became scarce due to grazing by sheep, remain a lasting reminder of the first peoples adaptability and resilience in what white settlers found pretty hard country.

For more information about this special little plant from the Herbarium Flora of Victoria website click here.

For more information about indigenous food plants a great reference is by Nelly Zola and Beth Gott, Koorie Plants Koorie People: Traditional food, fibre and Healing Plants of Victoria

 

 

4 responses to “What is in a name? Murnong or Yam Daisy now known as Microseris walteri”

  1. Just wondering whether it’s ‘walteri’ after our local John Walter? ‘Gand.’ is the authority citation…wondering who that is?

    I know it’s a botany nerd question, apologies, but does anyone know??

    • naomi says:

      Hi Teresa,
      The species name ‘walteri’ commemorates Carl (Chas) Walter, a prolific collector of Victorian plants in the latter half of the 19th century. His collection from Sandringham is the type specimen of M. walteri.
      Jean Michel Gandoger (1850-1926) was a French botanist who described M. walteri (and many other Australian plants).

  2. Geraldine Harris says:

    Does anyone know the story behind the new name?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

« | »