Australian Orchids as Food and Medicine

Abstract

If one is lost in the Australian bush, one may need to resort to eating orchid tubers. At least 20 Australian species are edible. Many Australian doctors have their names immortalized by orchids. Robert Brown, of Brownian movement fame, described 120 new Australian species. However, none of them took an interest in medicinal usage of orchids. Aboriginals employ only a few Cymbidium and Dendrobium species as medicine, such usage being confined to the Northern Territory and Queensland. Several orchids native to Australia but also occuring in other countries are eaten or have medicinal usage elsewhere but not in Australia.