CAT-00083
Murnong
Microseris walteri
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Microseris
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Grows in a wide range of habits, commonly in ± dry open forest; also in woodland, mallee, heath, grassland, coastal heath, grassy flats and dune open shrubland.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Root / tuber
- Latin name
- Microseris walteri
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Murnong
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Microseris%20walteri | https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/83b57182-7112-49e7-923e-c667f89f89bf; https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/46735 Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00083
- Mature width
- Not confirmed; allow spread appropriate to growth habit
- Native range
- Occurs in southern Australia: the far south of Western Australia, southeastern South Australia, far southeastern Queensland near the New South Wales border, far south and c. eastern half of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, throughout Victoria, and in the northeastern half of Tasmania.
- Plant family
- Asteraceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Regional / traditional food plant
- Mature height
- 0.15-0.5 m including flowers
- Native states
- NSW, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Profile enriched from botanical/nursery sources. Dimensions are unpruned regional estimates where available; missing measurements remain explicit. Seasons are regional guides and vary with climate, location, cultivar and plant maturity. Drought and cultivation guidance are qualitative garden inferences, not measured ratings.
- Evidence status
- Published food use; preparation detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- Seed follows flowering.
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Tuberous roots
- Flowering season
- Mainly spring-summer in VicFlora
- Brief description
- Rosette-forming yam daisy with yellow flower heads and tuberous roots.
- Drought tolerance
- Seasonally dormant; drought rating not verified.
- Preparation notes
- Use confirmed Microseris walteri tubers, traditionally cooked; other yam daisies are not automatically interchangeable.
- Flower description
- Yellow flower heads resembling small dandelions.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Cool-season trial; confirm nursery identity and avoid wet soil during dormancy.
- Botanical description
- Perennial herb, 15–50 cm high, usually with a solitary, napiform to narrowly ellipsoid or narrowly ovoid tuber replaced annually (rarely more than one tuber produced or retained). Leaves linear to oblanceolate, mostly 5–30 cm long, 2–15 mm wide, entire to distantly acutely lobed. Capitula to c. 55 mm diam.; peduncles to 50 cm long, much longer than leaves; involucral bracts ovate to narrowly lanceolate, 2–20 mm long, acute. Florets 10–30; ligules 15–30 mm long, yellow, much exceeding involucre. Cypselas mostly 4–7 mm long, straw-coloured to blackish, glabrous to minutely pubescent; pappus usually of c. 10 scales, 8–15 mm long, with barbellate apices, 0.5–1.3 mm wide at base.
- Other botanical names
- Not recorded
- Attracts birds and bugs
- Native bees and insects visit flowers; canopy shelters birds.
- Flora of Australia profile
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Microseris%20walteri Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Dry achenes with pappus hairs; tuber is the food crop.
- Flora of Australia citation
- D.J. Ohlsen, N.G. Walsh, P.G. Kodela. Microseris walteri. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Microseris%20walteri (accessed 2026-10-14). Copyright Commonwealth of Australia; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). HTML formatting removed; species-level context added where noted. Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Flora of Australia retrieved
- 14/10/2026