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Common name:
Bearded Heaths

Family name:
Epacridaceae

Botanical name:
Leucopogon spp.

Flowering/fruiting season:
September - October

Location:
Widespread in dry forests

Use:

  • Food
  • The small white berries were eaten raw (Fraser & McJannett, 1993:35)
  • White berries [of L. parviflorus Coastal bearded heath] are v. small … delicious sweet snack (Wreck Bay Community & Renwick, 2000:41)

Bearded Heath

Notes:

  • 'When those white berries [Coastal bearded heath] come out, then it is time for the bream to come.' (Wreck Bay Community & Renwick, 2000:41)
  • Extremely pleasant to eat, sweet, juicy and somewhat acid, with a flavour reminiscent of grapes (Cribb & Cribb, 1987:35)
  • 7 species occur in the ACT e.g. L. fletcheri, L. microphyllus (Burbidge & Gray, 1976:294-296)

Language names:

Horticulture :
Not recommended for garden plantings. '... very few have been successfully brought into cultivation.' (Wrigley & Fagg, 1998:399)

Similar species:
Lisanthe strigosa (dry sclerophyll below 760m) syn. L. montanus Native Cranberry (Alpine not in the ACT) (Flood, 1980)

Use code:
FRT

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