Cool-climate native produce plants
These are lists compiled from a range of resources which list them as either from alpine/cool-climate regions, note they may be frost-tolerant when established, or have otherwise suggested they may be suitable for cold winters and hot summers. Unless explicitly specified otherwise, assume “frost-tolerant when established” rather than “requires frost to exist” and proceed accordingly. Some plants not listed here may also survive if well-protected; eg lemon myrtle, which is otherwise a tropical plant.
Common name / Latin name / Edible parts / CommentsSallow wattle, Silver wattle / Acacia floribunda, Acacia dealbata / Seeds/pods / Silver wattle recommended as replacement for Cootamundra wattle. See below for fuller listing of edible acacias.
Coastal wattle / Acacia longifolia var sophorae / Seeds in pods
Golden wattle, Green wattle / Acacia longifolia, Acacia decurrans / Seeds/pods
Blackwood / Acacia melanoxylon / Seeds/pods
Wattleseed / Acacia podralyfolia, Acacia retinoides / Seeds/pods / Be very certain about acacia variety being used; not all wattle seeds or pods are edible.
Gundabluey / Acacia victoriae syn sentis / Seeds/pods / Apparently one of the best edible wattles
Lillipillies / Acmena spp. / Fruit / Also see Syzygium spp. Berries tend to be tart and crisp; refreshing if you like them.
Island celery / Apium insulare / Stalk, leaf
Sea celery / Apium prostatum var filiforme / Stalk, leaf
Bunya nut / Araucaria bidwilli / Nuts from cone / Takes up to 10 years to bear. Huge heavy cones. May be not child-suitable.
Small vanilla lilly, Vanilla lilly / Arthropodium minus, Arthropodium milleflorum / Roots/tubers
Native cranberry / Astroloma humifusum / Berries / Heath. Apple-tasting fruit.
Midjinberry, Midyim / Austromyrtus tenuifolium, Austromyrtus dulcis, A. hillii / Berry / Small, sweet, white-speckled berries about the size of a pea, very like blueberry. Delicious.
Twiggy myrtle / Baekea virgata
Banksia / Banksia integrifolia, Banksia marginata / Nectar
Appleberry / Billardiera cymosa, Billardiera scandens / Berry / Many varieties. Berry has astonishing stewed-apple taste
Kurrajong / Brachychiton populneum / Seeds / Beware of some varieties with small hairs on seeds; need to be removed before use, can be highly irritating
Native leek, Native onion, bulbine lily / Bulbine semibarbata, Bulbine bulbosa / Bulb, stalk / Native lily
Milkmaids / Burchardia umbellata
and Wurmbea, same family Colchicaceae / Tubers / Native lily
Bottlebrush / Callistemon citrinus / Nectar
Native cypress / Callitris sp / ?
Karkalla or Coastal pigface / Carpobrotus rossii / Fruit, leaves / Fruit is described as a “salty fig”.
Prickly currant bush, coffee-berry / Comprosma quadrifida, C. hirtella / Berries / Berries can be astringent, “edible but not tasty”.
Cape Barren Tea, native fuchsia, white correa / Correa alba / Leaves / Use for tea
Flax lily / Dianella caerulea, D. longifolia, D. revoluta, pavopennacea, bambusifolia / Seeds/berries / Nutty flavour if berries are eaten with seeds inside. Bright blue berries. Eat when completely ripe. D. tasmanica and other large-berried varieties are not edible.
Chocolate lily / Dichopgon strictus, D. fimbratus / Tuber
Desert lime, wild lime / Eremocitrus glauca / Fruit / Technically an arid plant, but frost-tolerant. The new CSIRO hybrids have a pure wild lime variety.
Winter apple / Eremophila debile (prev. Myoporum debile) / Fruit / Grass
Cider gum / Eucalyptus gunii / Sap / Being cultivated as a maple syrup alternative in Tasmania; alpine plant.
Wombat berry / Eustrephus latifolius / Berry
Ballart, cherry ballart, native cherry / Exocarpus spp. / Fruit / Many varieties, some sub-alpine. Bears stone outside of fruit. E. nanus is alpine variety. Root parasites; need a host plant to survive, ideally native grass.
Saw grass / Gahnia aspera / ?
Wax-berry / Gaultheria appresa / Berry / Alpine, native to the Great Divide; berries more bitter than snowberry.
Snow berry / Gaultheria hispida / Berry / Alpine, native to Tasmania. Berries tart but pleasant.
Scrambling lilly / Geitonoplesium cymosum / Tuber
Munthari, muntries / Kunzea pomifera / Berry / Clove-apple flavour
Native peppercress / Lepidium hyssopifolium / Leaf/stalk / Rare in the wild, but may be a colony near Bungendore
Sour currant-bush / Leptomeria acida, L. drupacea. / Berries
Tea tree / Leptospermum spp / Leaves / Use for a tea.
Beard heath / Leucopogon suaveolens, L. lanceolatus / Berries / Alpine. Sweet, watery, small berries
Matt rush / Lomandra longifolia / Base of leaves
Native river mint / Mentha australis / Leaves / A true mint, very pennyroyal taste
Murnong, yam daisy / Microceris scapigera, M. lanceolata / Tubers / Once a staple food. Tubers are cooked where they reduce into a sweet, dark-coloured juice.
Weeping grass / Microleana stipoides / Seeds / May be other grasses not yet listed
Amulla, winter apple / Myoporum debile / Fruit / Uncommon creeping plant of sunny open woodland.
Bush tea leaf, native basil, native thyme / Ociumum tenuiflorum / Leaves / Use as a herb. May be annual in frosty areas.
Yellow wood sorrel, clover / Oxalis oxalis, Oxalis perrenans, Oxalis radicosa / Leaves, taproot / These vars. are separate to the introduced Oxalis corniculata, but are essentially identical!
Carpet heath / Pentachondra pumila / Berries / Alpine heath. Sweet watery fruit.
Geebungs / Persoonia / Fruit / “Tastes like sweet cotton wool”.
Reed / Phragmites communis / ? / Reed/grass
Illawarra plum, Brown pine, plum pine / Podocarpus elatus, P. lawrencei syn alpina / Fruit / Tall tree. Can withstand heavy frosts.
Dwarf plum pine / Podocarpus spinulosus / Fruit / Resiny
Pigweed / Portulaca oleracea / Leaves, stalks, seeds
Native mint bush / Prostanthera sp / Leaves / Rotundifolia or ovifolia are nicer than incisa
Rose leaved raspberry, Small leaved raspberry / Rubus hillii, Rubus rosifolius ,Rubus parvifolius / Berries / A true raspberry. Bears large flattish berries, ranging from dry and tasteless to juicy and delicious. Parvifolius bears in winter in Sydney.
Native raspberry / R. gunnianus / Berry / Native to mountains of Tasmania
White elderberries / Sambucus gaudichaudiana / Berry
Native sarsparilla, sweet tea / Smilax glycophylla / Leaves / Apparently makes a lovely drink
Mountain kangaroo apple / Solanum linearifolium / Fruit / Taste not up to much, must not be eaten green
Bluebell creeper / Sollya heterophylla / Fruit / Related to appleberry; small purple/green fruit. Definitely frost-tolerant.
Sowthistle / Sonchus oleraceus / Leaves / The familiar yellow-flowered weed; it’s actually native in Australia.
Lillypilly, incl. riberries / Syzygium spp. / Berry / Riberries are a mildly resiny flavour.
Mountain pepper, Dorrigo pepper / Tasmannia spp / Leaves and berries / Use both leaves and berries as for pepper. Hotter than Piper nigrum. See below for complete list of varieties. All are alpine species.
Warrigal greens, tetragon, New Zealand Spinach, NZ spinach, Bower spinach, Warragul spinach / Tetragonia tetragonoides / Leaf / Seashores and edges of brackish water. Leaves must be blanched for 1min before use and water thrown away. Very young leaves may be eaten raw but test first.
Fringed violet, fringed lily / Thysanotus tuberrosus, T. patersonii / Tubers / Tubers apparently crisp, juicy and almost flavourless.
Wild parsnip / Trachymene incisa / Tuber / A plant of rocky outcrops; unsure of frost tolerance.
Bullrush / Typha / Leaf, roots, pollen / Water plant
Ribbon Weed / Valisneria / Roots/tuber / Water plant
Native violet / Viola hederacea / Bulb?
Early nancy / Wurmbea dioica / Bulb
Fiona PorteousPage 121/10/2018
Fiona PorteousPage 121/10/2018
List of edible acacias (not comprehensive):
Fiona PorteousPage 121/10/2018
Acacia aculeatissima
Acacia dealbata
Acacia genistifolia
Acacia implexa
Acacia lanigera
Acacia mearnsii
Acacia melanoxylon
Acacia paradoxa
Acacia pravissima
Acacia pycnantha
Acacia rubida
Acacia ulicifolia
Acacia verniciflua
Fiona PorteousPage 121/10/2018
List of Tasmannias (complete, I believe):
T. lanceolata - Mountain pepperbush.
T. stipitata - Dorrigo pepper
T. insipida - Wild Lime calls “Dorrigo pepper”, which is incorrect.
T. xerophilia - Alpine or snow pepper. Wild Lime says is has leaves and berries hotter than the two more common ones.
T. purpurescens - Broad leaf pepperbush.
T. glaucifolia - Fragrant Pepperbush
T. membranea – Pepper Tree
Fiona PorteousPage 121/10/2018
Bibliography used to compile this list – not comprehensive!
Merryn Carey and Peter Gow. Bushfood Plants for Cold Climates:
A guide to useful and edible Australian native plants for frosty places. SouthCoast Flora. (note: new edition expected out at the end of this year). List resourced from on 14.3.07
Juleigh Robins. Wild Lime. (out of print).
Low, Tim. 1991. Wild food plants of Australia. Angus & Robertson Publishers, Sydney, Australia.
Keith and Irene Smith. Grow your own Bushfoods.
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