TB-303

G'day everybody. This year I was lucky enough to go on the NSW camping trip and the Vic camping trip, and both were a blast. If anyone is tossing up going next time, I'd recommend it for sure. In both cases the people were great, very laid back, friendly and knowledgeable, and I think everyone learned something and had a lot of fun. Many thanks to Ed and YM for organising the trip, to BF for distributing the maps, and to everyone who made the journey, especially those who travelled long distances to be there. It was great to meet you. I wish I could have stayed for the lactarius feast and a bit more camp fire time - am already looking forward to next year. B.

Actually neither. The statement wasn't well worded. I was trying to describe how both (hop flowers and X. leaf bases) left a lingering, sticky, bitter residue on my tongue. The leaf bases did not appear to be psychoactive, but hop flowers (Humulus lupulus) don't affect me either, even in large quantities.

I think two common species of Xanthorrhoea in Vic. are X. Australis and X. Minor. I read that the leaf bases of some species were eaten by Aborigines and that X. Australis produces edible tubers when young. To cut a long story short, I found some karma friendly plants in Vic. (X., but species unknown) and checked out the leaf bases. I didn't go after tubers as the plants looked very old. A short section, maybe a few centimetres, of the leaf base was soft and seemed starchy, almost like firm pasta. I ate a few. Everything within the "trunk," including the leaf bases, was covered in orange resin and it looked like the resin was holding the whole thing together. The resin was very tacky and quite bitter and it had an unfamiliar, but almost citrus-like taste, and it stuck to my tongue for for nearly an hour after eating the leaf bases. Eating the leaf bases with the resin on them reminded me of eating hop flowers.