Recreating the Country
  • Home
  • be Challenged
    • Design to restore lost biodiversity >
      • Diversity >
        • Making a list of plants for revegetation
      • Structure >
        • Ecology Snapshot - wildlife and their habitat
      • Species survival
      • Location - connections
      • Blueprint for Recreating the Counrty
    • Biodiversity and profit >
      • Designing for profit
    • Managing sustainable biorich landscapes
  • be Informed
    • Indigenous flora of the Geelong district >
      • Indigenous plants - what & why
      • Acacias, wattles of the Geelong Region
      • Acacias - the cafes of the bush
      • Allocasuarinas/drooping sheoaks, Black Sheoak & Callitris glaucophylla/cypress-pine
      • Bursaria spinosa, Sweet Bursaria
      • Eucalypts, The Sentinals
      • Exocarpos cupressiformis, Cherry Ballart
      • Moonah, Melaleuca lanceolata
      • Small riparian myrtles
      • Wedge-leaf/Giant Hop-bush, Dodonaea viscosa
      • Wild Plants of Inverleigh
      • Tree Violet - as tenacious as a terrier
    • Nurseryman's diary >
      • Regent Honeyeater - a good news story
      • Give me a home among the gum trees
      • Symbiotic fungi
      • The joys of seed collecting
      • Landcare, who cares?
      • The last Silver Banksia
      • Neds Corner
      • River Red Gums and the Tuscan monks
  • be Entertained
    • Stories for children >
      • Amie and the intoxicated kangaroos
      • The Little Green Caterpillar
      • B'emus'ed - a Christmas tale of bursairas and emus
    • Stories about the natural world >
      • Brushtail
      • Cormorant
      • Eastern Bettongs. 'Truffle junkies' or 'ecosystem engineers'
      • Richards Sweet Rewards
      • Coxy's Curse
      • How the River Red Gum came to be - A dreamtime story
  • Bookshop
  • Blog
    • Easy blog finder
  • Contact

Recreating the Country blog

Berry Saltbush.                                                                   Connecting with nature one plant at a time

23/4/2020

11 Comments

 
- becoming wild in isolation.
This month, botanical names starting with A
PictureThe scented Chocolate Lily flower
Last week we started our nature adventure and name challenge with the amazing Chocolate Lily. Arthropodium strictum and three of its close relatives that are all sweet scented and edible. Click here to read about them.

Its exciting planting some of our wonderful natural heritage in your own garden. Then you can see millions of years of evolution going through its annual life-cycle where you can appreciate it every day

How did you go with the first tongue twister botanical name? I find botanical names have a rhythm that helps me remember them. Say them over to yourself a few times to hear the 'flow' of the words.  There is a poetic beauty in them that you will find

The next amazing indigenous plant is another ground level plant with a close cousin that is a familiar shrub, though you may not realise it yet. I think of this ground-layer plant as a very useful groundcover. It's a saltbush that isn’t a bush and it has all the toughness, hardiness and the usefulness of the saltbush family.

Berry or
Creeping Saltbush, Atriplex semibaccata       
How to say it.

At – trip – lex and run those syllables together. Semi offers little challenge, and as you think of the Magna Carta, say bac – cata and you’ve got it.

PictureTwo ripening fruit on a Berry Saltbush
Its ancient origins are all Latin - Salsa anyone

Pliny the Elder first used the Latin word atriplex in his remarkable book ‘Natural History’ published in AD 77. He was describing an edible mountain spinach and other related useful plants like amaranth.

The Latin word baccata = bearing berries. The scientific name literally means a spinach like plant with berries.

It follows that the Berry Saltbush is a member of the amaranth family as are all the saltbush species.


PictureThe Berry Saltbush is a living fire retarding mulch
Some human context

The berries on the Berry Saltbush can be eaten fresh or made into jam if you have the inclination and the time as they are very small. They are a little sweet with a salty note. You know its diamond shaped berries are ripe when they turn red.

To add to its potential, its leaves are high in protein and can be grazed by sheep. As it grows it hugs the ground and can spread to 1m across within twelve months. Its grey foliage is an attractive feature that provides good contrast in the home garden.

If you're looking for a dense fast growing drought tolerant groundcover, its hard to find a match for this plant.

Like other members of the saltbush family it's higher leaf salt levels make it less flammable. This feature makes it very useful in fire prone country locations where dry straw mulch and wood chips can become a fire hazard.

The Berry Saltbush is therefore very valuable as a fire retardant living mulch.


Here is an interesting observation and link from Stuart McCallum, activist, conservationist and long time Friend and protector of the Bannockburn Bush.
This Berry Saltbush has managed to colonise our VicRoads/Golden Plains replanting site on Harvey Rd.
We have been spreading it by simply spreading fallen fruits from under the plant.
Its edible but you have to be patient to collect a feed. Leave it for the herptiles.

A note from Stuart on Herpetology: Greek - herpetón, = "reptile" or "creeping animal". A the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, amphisbaenids, turtles, terrapins, tortoises, crocodilians).
 
https://edibleoz.com.au/products/creeping-berry-saltbush-atriplex-semibaccata-seeds-bush-tucker-food

PictureYou never know what you'll find living in a Berry Saltbush
Nature notes

The Berry Saltbush provides dense cool habitat for insects like springtails as well as skinks and frogs.

Imagine your well fed garden Bluetongue lizzards safe in a home that provides a balanced diet of protein rich insects and vitamin rich fruit for most of the year.

Small ground feeding birds like the
Superb Fairywren will pick through the grey foliage to find insects and berries as well.


Picture
A close relative - Atriplex nummularia

Its bushy close cousin that I mentioned earlier is Oldman Saltbush, Atriplex nummularia. You may know it as the plant that saltbush lamb is grown on.

Nummularia is pronounced numb – mule – area. It earned its Latin name because its circular leaves are like a Roman coin, nummus = coin

Nature notes & human context
Both its leaves and seeds can be eaten, the latter being used as a protein rich food by Indigenous Australians. Read more about its food potential here

This bush grows to about 2m x 2m and is planted on farms in hedgerows to provide drought proof nutritious food for grazing animals. It also provides them with dense wind shelter.

Other animals like small birds and Bluetongue lizards have been recorded using the dense habitat it provides for nesting and for shelter.

... and their easy to propagate

Both atriplex species are easy to propagate from seed. It’s as simple as collecting the mature berries and sowing them into potting mix (or garden soil). They’ll germinate within a few weeks.

When they are large enough to handle, transplant into small pots to grow them on for the garden or the back paddock. See this link to the NSW Department of Primary Industries for more information on Oldman Saltbush as stock fodder.


Next week we will venture into the very large genus of Acacias with two of my favourites - a beautiful small shrub and a longlived graceful small tree.
11 Comments
Wendy Moore
9/5/2020 01:42:08 pm

My sister has lived for decades on remnant Basalt Plain grassland on violently cracking basalt clays between Geelong and Lara. Over the past year or so the saltbush - ruby & nodding - have gone mad and cover most of the available ground. It is hard to walk without standing on it. Rhagodia sp is also popping up. It is great to see.

Reply
Steve
14/5/2020 11:34:10 am

Thanks for those useful insights Wendy. The saltbushes have the big advantage of being transported often long distances by birds eating the berries. The local skinks will be loving all the shelter that these groundcovers are providing.at your sisters

Reply
Kate Simpson
9/5/2020 08:54:13 pm

Love those little berries! These plants seem to grow overnight - fabulous ground cover

Reply
Steve
14/5/2020 11:38:24 am

Hi Kate,
Yes its surprising how fast they do grow and how adaptable they are. The exciting thing also is once you have a few fruiting, the birds do the planting for you.

I find I need to cut them back from time to time with a sharp spade when they start climbing over small shrubs and tussock grasses in our garden.

Reply
Wendy Moore
10/5/2020 10:16:38 am

Sad Ignorance
Since the 1990s we have been planting indigenous plants on the west side of Jewell Railway Stn in s Brunswick. This started as we were fighting to save the Upfield Train Line from closure. Previously a goods/shunting yard area the area was now covered in Kikuyu - mowed by the council - with a couple of Gum Trees and a PepperCorn Tree. Now the area has lots of local trees, shrubs etc with much more wildlife. Planting in such an area has MANY challenges - fighting Kykuyu, plant stealing, walking on them etc etc
At times the various small local ground covering salt bushes appear presumably planted via birds. One day I also found poor plants on their last legs in a local nursery and bought them to plant on a bare slope. All were doing well until the council staff were called in to remove a couple of senesced wattle trees overhanging paths. Staff also went around spot spraying. AND delight of delights!!! sprayed out all of the natural and planted saltbushes, within carefully weeded mulched beds! Hopefully some further plant ID training followed.
On another occasion a supporter spotted workers attacking our plants. It was response to the latest unfortunate attack on some local woman - horrible, but nothing to do with plants. They were cutting back trees and shrubs but also attacking a large patch of 1-2 ' high Rhagodia. When asked what this plant had to do with personal safety was told - it is ugly! Groan

Reply
Steve
20/5/2020 04:01:45 pm

Hi Wendy,
I'm inspired to read about your amazing works restoring a railway shunting yard in Brunswick. I can't think of a more difficult site to tackle. As if that wasn't hard enough you've had to contend with poorly informed Council workers.

It's takes a lot of hard work to repair a site and only a few seconds to destroy it

I look forward to hearing that the birds have continued to support your efforts and the Saltbush have mad a remarkable recovery

Reply
vivien George
14/5/2020 10:18:09 pm

Steve, a great article on the Acacias. Can you clarify again which Wattle Seeds are safe to eat. I was informed that there is only one and the other may contain arsenic. regards

Reply
Steve
20/5/2020 04:45:43 pm

Hi Vivien,
I think your wise to be cautious about eating wattle seeds though 120 of our 1000 species are supposedly edible.The website 'Australian Native Foods and Botanicals' lists four species including our national floral emblem Acacia pycnantha, Golden Wattle

Anthony Leddin from Eumerella Run near Port Fairy grows Acacia retinodes, Swamp Wattle and Acacia sophorae, Coast Wattle commercially, harvesting seed for sale.to niche food markets. I wrote about Andrews project here;
https://www.recreatingthecountry.com.au/blog/biodiversity-and-profit-creative-thinkers-pushing-the-boundaries

Beth Gott in here booklet 'Victorian Koorie Plants' describes how the raw seeds of the Coast Wattle, A. sophorae, were eaten like peas in Tasmania and South Australia. She goes on to say that in Central and Western Australia dry wattle seeds were ground up for food, but adds that not all species are palatable.

They are very rich in protein which is a good reason to persevere with your search


Reply
Dan
29/8/2020 04:04:42 pm

Hey everyone! Looking to get some of the creeping and different species for a bit of versatility on a grazing block up north. We bought a heap of de nock, with mixed results and looking to expand the plantings. Where can I get large numbers of plants sent interstate, does anyone have any contacts? Thanks in advance!

Reply
Steve
30/8/2020 09:41:51 am

Hi Dan,
Contact your local Landcare Group. You will find a useful link to local groups on the ‘Landcare Australia’ website. They should be able to direct you to Local suppliers of good quality tube stock.

Bringing plants in from interstate is risky. They are less likely to suite your local soil type or climate. Choosing plant species from your area (your provenance) will always give better results.

I hope you have better success with your next planting.

Reply
Katrina R link
25/11/2023 07:30:39 pm

Thank yoou for being you

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    '​RECREATING the COUNTRY'
    Ten key principles for designing sustainable landscapes 
    Second edition Updated & expanded

    Click on the image below to read more
    Picture
    Stephen Murphy is an author and ecologist. He has worked as a nurseryman and designer of natural landscapes for over 30 years. He loves the bush, actively supporting Landcare and conservation initiatives throughout Australia
    Picture
    Click here
    ​to the
     
    ​'Easy blog finder
    '

    RSS Feed

      To subscribe to monthly blogs please leave your email below. 

    submit
Picture

Site content © Stephen Murphy, 20​25

  • Home
  • be Challenged
    • Design to restore lost biodiversity >
      • Diversity >
        • Making a list of plants for revegetation
      • Structure >
        • Ecology Snapshot - wildlife and their habitat
      • Species survival
      • Location - connections
      • Blueprint for Recreating the Counrty
    • Biodiversity and profit >
      • Designing for profit
    • Managing sustainable biorich landscapes
  • be Informed
    • Indigenous flora of the Geelong district >
      • Indigenous plants - what & why
      • Acacias, wattles of the Geelong Region
      • Acacias - the cafes of the bush
      • Allocasuarinas/drooping sheoaks, Black Sheoak & Callitris glaucophylla/cypress-pine
      • Bursaria spinosa, Sweet Bursaria
      • Eucalypts, The Sentinals
      • Exocarpos cupressiformis, Cherry Ballart
      • Moonah, Melaleuca lanceolata
      • Small riparian myrtles
      • Wedge-leaf/Giant Hop-bush, Dodonaea viscosa
      • Wild Plants of Inverleigh
      • Tree Violet - as tenacious as a terrier
    • Nurseryman's diary >
      • Regent Honeyeater - a good news story
      • Give me a home among the gum trees
      • Symbiotic fungi
      • The joys of seed collecting
      • Landcare, who cares?
      • The last Silver Banksia
      • Neds Corner
      • River Red Gums and the Tuscan monks
  • be Entertained
    • Stories for children >
      • Amie and the intoxicated kangaroos
      • The Little Green Caterpillar
      • B'emus'ed - a Christmas tale of bursairas and emus
    • Stories about the natural world >
      • Brushtail
      • Cormorant
      • Eastern Bettongs. 'Truffle junkies' or 'ecosystem engineers'
      • Richards Sweet Rewards
      • Coxy's Curse
      • How the River Red Gum came to be - A dreamtime story
  • Bookshop
  • Blog
    • Easy blog finder
  • Contact