Castanospermum
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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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
