Native Flower Knowledge

Flowers are pretty, but Indigenous people see beyond this. The flowers in your garden carry detailed information about the land around you.

Flowers are a sign of many things happening around us. This knowledge is very deep and complex, so for this short blog we'll stick to the example of yellow flowers, and look at what they might mean when you see them appear in your garden. I'm thinking of a particular plant, an acacia, which generally appears as a native in one form or other across the globe in yellow flowering varieties. I will try and keep the information general, rather than localised to any particular geographic location.

So, the yellow flowers have appeared on your acacia. You will probably also have some native shrubs and other plants that have yellow flowers at this time too. The bees will go mad for those flowers, and as a result this is the best season to collect honey, which will be rich in flavour and in the properties for destroying bacteria such as streptococcol. This is a season for colds, so honey eaten at this time is good medicine for prevention and cure. Honey collected at other times of the year should not be eaten at all, as it is inferior and insipid by comparison.

Asthma and allergies will be aggravated at this time. Flying mammals like bats can be eaten now as medicine for this. Sounds disgusting, but it will cure your asthma. If you have a tidal river nearby, now is the time to go fishing - those fish will never be fatter than they are now in this season of the yellow flowers.

The bark of the tree is also now ready to harvest if you are wanting to tan animal hides. The bark can be boiled to extract a substance to make hides soft. The bark can also be made into string at this time, by stripping the fibres and twisting. This is a fun activity to do with your children.

If you are planting non-native flowers in this place, please do your research and be a good steward for land you are occupying. I have written two articles on foreign yellow flowering weeds you might like to check out for more information on this - Romantic Invaders Part One and Romantic Invaders Part 2.

See also Native Quarantine Law and Biological Invasion.

Native flowers really are the best. Not only are they beautiful, but they fit in with your landscape and can tell you so much about it, if you learn how to listen.

If you are interested in native flower gardens, you may wish to visit the Flower Gardens site here at Suite 101. There is a great blog about acacias and other native yellow flowers in America and around the world.