Native potato facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Native potato |
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Platysace
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| Species: |
maxwellii
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Platysace maxwellii, often called the native potato or karno, is a special kind of shrub. It grows only in Western Australia, meaning it is endemic to that area. The Noongar people, who are Aboriginal Australians, have their own names for this plant: karno and yook. The name 'yook' is also used for a similar plant called Platysace deflexa, which grows a bit further south.
Contents
Discovering the Native Potato
What Does It Look Like?
The native potato is a thin shrub that can grow from about 0.3 to 1.2 meters (about 1 to 4 feet) tall. It has a slender shape, sometimes growing straight up or spreading out. This plant blooms, or flowers, between October and April. When it flowers, it produces pretty white blossoms.
Where It Grows
You can find Platysace maxwellii in different parts of Western Australia. It grows on flat plains and hills. It is scattered across the Mid West, through the Wheatbelt, and into the south-west part of the Goldfields-Esperance region. This shrub can grow in many types of soil, including sandy, loamy, clay, or lateritic soils.
How It Was Named
A botanist named Ferdinand von Mueller first described this plant in 1892. He called it Trachymene maxwellii. He wrote about it in a science journal called The Victorian Naturalist. Later, in 1939, another scientist named C. Norman reclassified the plant. This means they moved it into a different group, or genus, called Platysace. This new classification was published in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign.
A Special Food Source
Aboriginal people have used the native potato as an important food source for a very long time. This plant grows many round tubers underground. Tubers are like small, fleshy roots that store food for the plant. These tubers can be found about 0.5 meters (about 1.6 feet) deep in the ground. People would use a digging stick to find and get them out of the soil.
The younger tubers, which are usually closer to the surface, were preferred. They could be eaten raw, just as they were found. People also roasted them over a fire, which would make them taste even better.
