Aborignal fungus and plant use
Rainforest plants and fungus
Introduction
In this project i will describe and explain 5 types of plants found in the rainforest and 5 types of fungus that was used by the aborignal people in many diffrent ways
thx enjoy Roxy!!!!
FUNGUS
choiromyces aboriginum fungi
This truffle-like fungus is found in the dry areas of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is roughly circles in shape and grows to about 7 centimetres in diameter. The fruiting bodies will slightly push up the overlying soil, cracking it and such cracks are used to help find the fungus. It is a traditional native food and has also been used as a source of water.The aborignal people ate the fruitinng bodies either raw or cooked.They were cooked in hot sand and ashes for over an hour, and then eaten. They were not used for medicine, but they were fed to sick for good hope of becoming well again.
Laetiporus portentosus (formerly called Piptoporus portentosus) fungi
This fungus is commonly called Native Bread. Which was eaten raw or roasted and has been described as having the flavour of boiled rice it tastes bland and sweet with hints of spices and roasting. Aborigines often found the fungi by smell, sometimes by pushing a stick into the ground as they walked along and smelling the stick after pulling it out testing the flavor and texture.
Phellinus sp.
Many species of polypore genus Phellinus are hard, woody bracket fungi, mostly coloured dark bronze to black and often with the upper surface heavily cracked. Aborigines have used Phellinus fruiting bodies medicinally. The smoke from burning fruit bodies was inhaled by those with sore throats with traces of curable diseases. Scrapings from slightly charred fruiting bodies were drunk with water to treat coughing, sore throats, "bad chests", fevers and diarrhoea.Sadly the type of Phellinus was found, this fungi was used as a medicine for bad chests and colds that seemed impossible to cure.
Mycoclelandia bulundari
This is another desert truffle-like fungus, known from the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and grows to about 10 centimetres in diameter. It is eaten after being cooked in hot sand and ashes. the aboriginals used this fungi as a medicine, fluid from the fungus being used on sores and in sore eyes, rubbed into armpits and "when rubbed into the hair it prevents growth".
Pycnoporus sp.
The fruiting bodies of this polypore genus look like bright reddish-orange brackets and are widespread on dead wood. In Australia there are two species - Pycnoporus coccineus and Pycnoporus sanguineus, with overlapping distributions. Moreover, the two species are similar in appearance, so without specimens there will be doubt as to which Pycnoporus species is meant in any particular account. One or other Pycnoporus is used medicinally in a variety of ways by desert Aborigines - "sucked to cure sore mouths", rubbed inside the mouths of babies with oral thrush, rubbed on sore lips. It has also been used as a teething ring. Out of curiosity, and after hearing of the Aboriginal use of this fungus, one person in Canberra chewed on a Pycnoporus specimen to see if it would have any effect on a small mouth ulcer. The ulcer soon disappeared, so at least the fungus had no horrible effect.These two fungi both helped and effected medicine for the aborignals.Pycnoporus cinnabarinus occurs in cooler, temperate regions within Europe and North America. Pycnoporus sanguineus occurs in warmer, tropical regions within South America, North America, and Asia. Pycnoporus coccineus occurs in temperate areas of Australia and New Zealand. Pycnoporus puniceus is a rare species found in Southeastern Asia and Malaysia. This fungi is studied in the production of laccase for use in biotechnology.
PLANTS
Leopoldinia piassaba
Leopoldinia piassaba (Para piassava, Piassava fiber palm, Piassava palm) is a palm native to black water rivers in the Amazonian rainforest, Brazil and Venezuela, from which is extracted piassava, a high caliber and water resistant fiber. Piassaba fiber is made into brooms, baskets, and other products. This plant is also a natural habitat of the Rhodnius brethesi.
Adelopetalum lilianiae / Warty Strand Orchid
Occurs in highland rainforests on ridges and mountain tops in windy situations where clouds, mists and fogs are frequent. In tall rainforests this species grows on the uppermost branches of trees; in stunted forests it grows on shrubs, trees and rocks, sometimes exposed to full sun.flowering period july to september.Epiphytic or lithophytic herb forming sparse slender clumps.they have very widely spaced, erect to a depressed dark green to yellowish, deeply grooved leafs.with gold,cram and purple tiped petals that strech like fronds towards light from the forest floor.
Apostasia stylidioides / yellow grass orchid
Terrestrial evergreen herb forming grass-like clumps. Roots wiry, much branched, with variously sized fleshy tubercules. Stems single or multiple.they have tough, fibrous, wiry. Leaves scattered along stem, whorled, sessile, bases sheathing stem.Occurs in dense rainforests and wetter types of open forest, usually growing in moist soil close to streams and on sheltered slopes in a range of soil types, sometimes forming loose colonies. Small mycorrhizal tubercles, small fleshy tuber-like growths, are found on the wiry roots. Plants are able to recover following fire by resprouting from the underground stem. Flowering is during the wet season in summer and the flowers are self-pollinating. Fruit takes 8-12 months to develop and ripen.
Arthrochilus oreophilus / montane elbow orchid
Occurs in forests, woodlands and rainforest margins at higher altitudes, especially on slopes and ridges, favouring well-drained clay soils.Terrestrial tuberous herb forming spreading colonies. Sterile plants a basal rosette of leaves only. Fertile plants an inflorescence with a rosette arising later from lateral stem at base of peduncle. Leaves 2-5, prostrate, ground-hugging, basal.The petals grow like crab claws.
Arthrochilus rosulatus / Rosetted elbow orchid
Terrestrial tuberous herb forming spreading colonies. Sterile plants a basal rosette of leaves only. Fertile plants an inflorescence with a rosette encircling base of inflorescence. Leaves 3-4, obliquely erect, forming a basal rosette; laminaelliptic to oblanceolate. Occurs in open forests and monsoonal rainforest thickets on well-drained sandy soils ,where it forms spreading colonies. It is easily recognised from Arthrochilus species by its flower stem arising from the centre of the rosette. It has an unusually long flowering period which reaches well into the dry season.