Tabernanthe iboga (family Apocynaceae) is native to Western Africa; Angola, Cabinda, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon and Zaïre. Two species are currently recognised, Tabernanthe elliptica and Tabernanthe iboga 1. Generally two forms are recognised of the T. iboga species, what the Indigenous people in West Africa call the male and female form, and which Westerners call the long and the round fruited forms. The male or long fruit is called “iboga nome” in the Myene language in Gabon, whilst the female or round fruit is called “iboga ny’ anto” in the same dialect 3. Previously ..read more

I have been working with researchers at the University of Queensland’s QAAFI (Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation), offering technical assistance and co-authoring a couple of new papers. Both are open access so please have a read if this interests you. The genome of Citrus australasica reveals disease resistance and other species specific genes https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3479935/v1 Abstract Background The finger lime (Citrus australasica), one of six Australian endemic citrus species shows a high natural phenotypic diversity and novel characteristics. Th ..read more

I know the title of this post sounds like a medieval book but I feel it is something we need to have a chat about! In many other aspects of our lives, hygiene has certainly evolved over human history and has resulted in the decreased incidence of certain illnesses and deaths from related diseases. From the simple act of hand-washing to prevent the spread of influenza and colds (edit: and now novel coronavirus which has brought this topic to the fore of society again), to the sterilisation of medical tools and surfaces to stop post surgical infections. It could also be argued that over-sterilit ..read more

Nine years ago (2011) I started breeding Citrus with the idea to come up with a novel fruit that could be either grown commercially or by the home gardener as an alternative to the ever popular Fingerlime (Citrus australasica). Having known about the 2 CSIRO produced fruit, Australian Sunrise Lime and Australian Blood Lime, I decided to try breeding a Mandarin with a Fingerlime. The Blood Lime was rumoured to be a similar cross but it was actually with a Rangpur Lime. I still settled on a Mandarin variety as the pistillate or female parent and a Citrus australasica variety called Rainforest Pe ..read more

After growing Kava for the best part of 20 years (and out of its natural climatic range), I’ve settled on a few things that are needed to successfully grow Kava in the subtropics. The post will hopefully help those trying to grow kava, whether in the tropics, subtropics or even the temperate areas of Australia. Kava is a perennial tropical shrub native to/cultivated in the SouthPacific Islands, including Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti. Kava prefers lower elevations, consistent moisture and partial sun. It is often grown under the shade of another crop like young coconut palms or papaya ..read more

I wanted to share a recipe for Turmeric (Curcuma longa) and Ashwaghanda (Withania somnifera) ghee I have been making recently. When I posted pictures on Instagram I had quite a few people asking me for a recipe. I feel the herbs combine really well together, and I just eat a teaspoon of it daily. Ghee is renowned in Ayurveda, where it is used instead of oil everyday and to carry the essence of many herbs into the body’s tissues, for better absorption of medicinal compounds. I make my own ghee, it’s really easy, you just need a couple of sticks of unsalted butter in a saucepan, you melt it and ..read more

Ok, this used to be a common question, but is less common now as people are more used to doing bank transfers/deposits online. I even used to cop abusive emails from people saying how antiquated our payment methods were! There’s a pretty long winded answer to this. But it comes down to the fact that we have been blocked from using both PayPal and credit card facilities by a number of Australian banks, simply for the products we sell, even though all are legal to grow and possess in Australia. They are happy to have our bank accounts and accept our business, but won’t provide us with credit car ..read more

Plant mutation breeding applies to the use of either chemical mutagens (colchicine, oryzalin, etc) or ionising radiation (gamma or x-ray) to induce mutations (both beneficial and also deleterious) in seeds or other propagation material such as budwood or seedlings. The aim of mutation breeding is to rapidly acquire beneficial changes in the genome, changes in ploidy (polyploidy, increasing the number of chromosomes), increased alkaloid content, plant vigour, plant height, dwarfing, biomass yield, or seedless varieties in Citrus for example. Compared with acclimatisation, hybridisation or selec ..read more

Psychotria viridis (Chacruna) is an amazing South American rainforest shrub traditionally used in the Ayahuasca brew. I have been growing this species for almost 20 years and have propagated thousands of plants, both by seeds and also vegetative means (leaf cuttings, tip cuttings). I am constantly learning about its requirements for growth and find that it is a highly adaptable species tolerant of many conditions. I hope to provide a good (I do say ultimate so I’ll try hard) guide for those wishing to grow their own. Psychotria viridis is a member of the Rubiaceae family, which includes medici ..read more

What a destructive and terrible summer of bushfires in Australia, to say the least. Over 11 million Hectares (yes, thats a shitload) completely burnt (not just a low intensity fire, these are high intensity fires damaging entire ecosystems) and an estimated loss of 1 billion animals and countless plants and invertebrates. Its hard to get your head around the destruction, largely due to an extended drought over those regions, coupled with record heat and climatic conditions fuelling wild fires (negative SAM, positive IOD, etc). There’s plenty you’ve read about these fires that I don’t need to g ..read more