Common name:
Potato Orchid, Native Potato, Cinnamon Bells

Family name:
Orchidaceae

Botanical name:
Gastrodia sesamoides

Flowering/fruiting season:
Flowers late summer; root available all year (Gott, 1995)

Location:
'Not common; in leaf litter under Snow Gums, intermediate and high altitudes, near Mt Ginini bog, vicinity Mt Franklin, Little Bimberi Creek, Upper Cotter.' (Burbidge & Gray, 1976:112)

Use:

Food
Tubers (similar to kidney potatoes) were roasted (Flood, 1980:94)

Notes:

'… belongs to a small group of leafless non-green orchids that obtain their nutrients through association of their roots with those of another plant. .... one of the principal plants used by the Tasmanian Aborigines. The flavour has been described as resembling beetroot but watery and insipid.' (Cribb & Cribb, 1987:169
Early western district (Vic.) settler gives account of local Aboriginal people gathering Potato Orchid tubers, digging where bandicoots had scratched. (Dawson in Zola & Gott, 1992:38)
Single stem with pale pink & brown bell-shaped flowers; 'underground rhizome rich in starch' (Zola & Gott, 1992:38)

Language names:
puewan? : Tjapwurong, Gunditjmara (Vic.) (Zola & Gott, 1992:38)

Horticulture :

Similar species:

Use code:
ROOT

Note: Plant images of Gastrodia on this page are copyright and by courtesy of the ACT Department of Education, Youth & Family Services.

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