Castanospermum

Castanospermum australe
C. australe
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Genus:	Castanospermum A.Cunn
Binomial name
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.

Pods.

Growth

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 a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)