Rainforest Plants E to I - Ngadjon Names and Uses

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Traditional Aboriginal Knowledge

to Alphabetical List of Scientific Names
Plants A-D
Plants E-I (this page..)
Plants J
Plants K-Z


Ngadjon Name Image Use
gabi 

Ficus pleurocarpa

Karpe Fig,
Banana Fig
gabi
© William T. Cooper 1994
Ripe fruit eaten fresh.
The inner bark was used to make blankets and containers for carrying water or honey. A section of bark was stripped from the tree, the inner bark separated and beaten with a wooden club over a smooth tree-root anvil to make a blanket "about the size of a kitchen table". These blankets were carried from camp to camp.
Wood from the flange buttresses was used for making shields. See Weapons and Tools.
gamama

Cycas media

Cycad
gamama The seeds, which were very poisonous without processing, were cooked, ground, leached in running water for several days, then eaten.
See Food Processing.
ganggi 

Beilschmiedia bancroftii

Yellow Walnut
ganggi
© William T. Cooper 1994
Toxic seeds were steamed, ground, leached and then eaten. See Food Processing.
Also used as bait for turkey traps.
ganyjuu 

Castanospermum australe

Black Bean
ganyjuu
© William T. Cooper 1994
A very important staple food source for the Ngadjonji. The seeds are large and plentiful but they are very poisonous without the careful processing that removed the poisons. See Food Processing.
The seeds could be stored in damp pits in the wet-season camps.
gulagaa

Ficus copiosa

Plentiful Fig
gulagaa
© William T. Cooper 1994
Young fruits (yalanda) were cooked in an earth-oven; said to taste like potatoes. Ripe fruits (yanggi) from lower altitude trees (at higher altitudes the ripe fruits are poisonous) could be eaten fresh; said to taste like dates.
New leaves were steamed and eaten.
guwaa 

Endiandra palmerstonii

Black Walnut
guwaa
© William T. Cooper 1994
The seeds were eaten after cooking in an earth-oven or on the coals of a fire. Said to taste like bread and to be the tastiest of the traditional starchy foods.
Ground seed was used as a bait for turkey-traps.
guyu 

Pothos longipipes

Candle Vine
guyu
© William T. Cooper 1994
Ripe red fruit eaten, usually cooked but could be eaten fresh. Fruit would be collected, wrapped in leaves and cooked in the coals of a fire for about 15 minutes.

  Plants A-D

Plants J  
for more Ngadjon vocabulary see Glossary...