Native yam

Microseris lanceolata, the native yam-daisy or murnong, is a tuberous perennial herb in the Asteraceae native to grassy woodlands, native grasslands, and subalpine meadows across southern Australia. The plant forms a basal rosette of narrow, linear-lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves 5 to 25 cm long, entire to slightly toothed, exuding white latex when broken. Solitary nodding flowerheads, 2 to 4 cm across with bright yellow ligulate florets, are borne on slender, leafless scapes 10 to 50 cm tall; the heads droop in bud, becoming erect at anthesis and again drooping after flowering. Fruits are slender, ribbed achenes topped with a pappus of plumose bristles. Underground tubers are fleshy, white, sweet, and 1 to 10 cm long, branching from a perennial rootstock. The species is renowned as a staple traditional food of Aboriginal peoples of southeastern Australia.