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| Castanospermum australe | ||||||||||||||
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 C. australe
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| Castanospermum australe A.Cunn & C.Fraser ex Hook. |
Castanospermum australe (Moreton Bay Chestnut or Blackbean), the only species in the genus Castanospermum, is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the east coast of Australia in Queensland and New South Wales, and to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
It is a large evergreen tree growing to 40 m tall, though commonly much smaller. The leaves are 15 cm long and 6-7 cm broad, pinnate, with 11-15 leaflets. The flowers are bicoloured red and yellow, 3-4 cm long, produced in racemes 6 cm long. The fruit is a cylindrical pod 12-20 cm long and 4-6 cm diameter, the interior divided by a spongy substance into three to five cells, each of which contains a large chestnut-like seed.
Uses
The seeds are poisonous, but become edible when carefully prepared by pounding into flour, leaching with water, and roasting. The timber, which somewhat resembles walnut, is soft, fine-grained, and takes a good polish, but is not durable.
References
- Australian National Botanic Gardens: Castanospermum australe
- Bush Tucker Plants: Moreton Bay Chestnut
- Plants for a Future: Castanospermum australe
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
