The peeled young inflorescence (flowering shoot) of Cordyline australis (white bit pictured above) is very good to eat in my experience, though I have not eaten a great number. It is similar to water chestnut in texture, somewhat nutty in taste and free of fibers. It is one of the more substantial and pleasing edible offerings of the New Zealand flora, for me a welcome break from the endless supply of introduced wild greens in NZ.
This use is not listed anywhere in the literature of edible New Zealand native plants as far as I know. Perhaps this is because it is often out of reach, tending to be very high up on trees difficult or impossible to climb. Crowe (1) lists pretty much every other conceivable part of this plant as edible and no part of it has ever been listed as remotely toxic (2), so I feel very confident eating it.
I got the idea of eating it from the fact that the young peeled inflorescences of related and similar Yuccas, from the Americas, are edible (3).
For me this makes Cabbage Tree a much more realistic and reliable edible resource as the inflorescence is produced yearly (or at least biennially) and removing it does not really damage the plant (the inflorescence will die in a few months anyway (I suppose birds not being able to harvest the berries that would have followed might be a consideration.)) Other edible parts of this plant represent extremely low productivity in my experience and harvesting them damages or kills the tree. Still, accessing the inflorescence is a major problem, I wonder if the inflorescence is still produced if the plant is kept pruned to a practical height, otherwise reaching and grabbing equipment would usually be needed. The smaller species and varieties of Cordyline would also be worth investigating.
Cabbage tree may be especially worth considering as a crop for sites with extreme coastal exposure where few edible plants thrive. The inflorescence is not produced in great abundance on trees that do not branch but on trees with many branches productivity is perhaps satisfactory.
It does not look like the chemical composition/nutritional value of cabbage tree inflorescence has been studied. I could only find one chemical analysis of the inflorescence of the related and similar Yucca, it contains crude protein and crude fat (4).
1. Crowe, Andrew. A Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand. 1997.
2. (e.g., not in) Connor H.E. The Poisonous Plants in New Zealand. 1992.
3. Couplan, Francois. The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of America. Nature's Green Feast. 1998.
4. Effects of replacement of alfalfa by inflorescences of Yucca carnerosana in the diet on performance of growing goats. M. Mellado et al. Livestock Science. July 2009.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S187114130800320X#:~:text=It%20was%20concluded%20that%2050,effects%20on%20their%20growth%20performance.
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Some other New Zealand native plants I sometimes eat that are not listed as edible in any book or anywhere else (so some caution advised):
Pyrrosia eleagnifolia. An epiphytic fern which is often abundant in improbable niches in older urban environments. The Fronds or "leaves" are eatable raw but very nice and crispy if fried very briefly, good as a snack. I feel fairly confident eating this as it has been claimed (the shoots of) all native ferns can be eaten (How to Survive in the Bush, on the Coast, in the Mountains of New Zealand. Fight Lieutenant B Hildreth. 1962). But more and more ferns are being found to be carcinogenic, the carcinogenicity of Pyrrosia eleagnifolia is not known. I only eat it occasionally and boil it for 20 minutes beforehand as this is done with potentially carcinogenic but popular Bracken fronds in Russia, apparently reducing or eliminating the danger. This plant does not seem to grow very quickly so harvesting it a lot is probably questionable.
Hebe salicifolia and similar species. The soft young leaf buds have been consumed raw for medicinal purposes (diarrhoea) in fairly large quantities at a time (Maori Healing and Herbal. M Riley 2010). I find them tasty with a pleasing texture boiled. Multiple leaf buds basically form a single unit before opening and separating so they are a bit more substantial and satisfying than a single leaf but not as much as asparagus, say. Hebe regrows fairly quickly after pruning so this seems to be a sustainable practice, though not especially productive.
Myrsine australis. The fruit is tiny but produced in bunches so a number can be collected with one gesture. The only interesting thing about them is the seeds have a pleasant crunch which could add interest to a dish. Some other Myrsine fruit are eaten overseas (Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. 1976).
Collospermum hastatum. The berries are known to be edible. I've also eaten the base of the young flower stem which is good, presumably much like the "bland and tender" base of the flower stem of the similar Astelia solandri eaten by Crowe (1.)
Arthropodium cirratum. The base of the flower stem is reasonably thick, palatable & seems harmless to me. The tender white leaf base also seems to be fine to eat though productivity is rather low as the plant grows fairly slowly. I also occasionally nibble the bland tasting flowers and young flower buds. The rhizomes have been reported to have been eaten by early Maori, at least partly because the plant was found around settlements (Crowe (quoting Colenso). Ref 1). I've found the rhizomes far too tough to eat so far, perhaps they need to be very young like some other rhizomes. I also can't find any first hand accounts of anyone eating them, I've even wondered if it was the above ground parts that were eaten in the past, rather than the rhizomes, though that seems unlikely. No part is not listed as toxic anywhere. It is commonly grazed by animals (9).
Tecomanthe speciosa. I have eaten the vaguely substantial & satisfying (solid) growing tip of this vine about 30 times, spaced over long periods, with no noticeable damage. It tastes much like the bitter edible leaves of Plantago major, complex in flavor but strangely, not bad. But the bitterness may indicate toxicity. Apparently goats ate/destroyed all but one of this species on its native island, found on a cliff this single plant is apparently the source of all plants found in cultivation. Goats eating a lot of something probably indicates it is not highly toxic but they sometimes safely consume mildly toxic species by eating a little at a time mixing it with more palatable species. They occasionally poison themselves.
Pittosporum crassifolium. Karo. I've tried eating the immature fruit before the seeds develop (mature fruit do not seem eatable). They seem to be edible raw but not very palatable and a bit tough. Boiled they are better, soft but a little dry in texture, with a slight resinous, musty, pea flavor, but mostly bland. Not bad, not great. Baked they are a bit too chewy and strong in flavor. They produce no unusual sensations in the mouth, I've swallowed about 20 at a time with no noticeable ill effects. Perhaps it has some culinary potential, could be added to stir fries maybe. The fact that the tree thrives in extreme coastal wind exposure may be a plus.
There are no reports of toxicity in any Pittosporum that I can find though the leaves of this and other New Zealand Pittosporum tested contain saponins (5), the fruit do not seem to have been tested but may be the same. Saponins are not considered great to eat but are generally regarded as basically harmless to humans (toxic to fish, a Pittosporum has been used as a fish stupefier in the Islands (6) the fish then eaten). Saponins occur in a number of common foods. In experiments on rats large rations (60% of diet) of the leaves of the related Pittosporum tenuifolium resulted in weight loss, lower does there was weight gain (2). Presumably that means "everything in moderation". The gum of other New Zealand Pittosporums was eaten by Maori (1), the immature fruit of P. crassifolium has a similar taste to this gum. The bitter seeds of the Australian Pittosporum phylliraeoides have been made into flour and the gum has been eaten (7). The ripe fruit of Pittosporum viridiflorum is eaten raw in Africa (8).
I have not tried the unripe fruit of other New Zealand Pittosporum yet, I expect they are the same.
Disclaimer: Although I have eaten all of the plants listed here in modest amounts with no noticeable ill effects, unknown toxicity is a possibility with any new food. Caution is advised.
Also worth mentioning:
The unripe fruits of New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax, cookianuun) have a pleasant texture and taste boiled but are also extremely "hot", a bit like chili peppers. I've wondered if a similar taste could be acquired for this "heat" but I suspect it is too sharp and severe to have any culinary potential. I have only eaten a few. There is no record of any part of flax being toxic (2) aside from the purgative effect of the roots (1) but humans and animals may have never eaten much because of this heat so any toxicity may have never been detected (the heat in chili pepper is considered to be there to discourage consumption but it obviously didn't work with humans).
Clianthus maximus/Clinathus puniceus. Kaka beak. There are a few people saying the pods are or may be edible online. Crowe (1) does not mention it as edible. The plant was only found around Maori settlements by early European settlers, not in the wild, suggesting they may have grown it for food, but it is also thought it may have just been an ornamental. Conner (2) says it is not suspected of being toxic. It is eagerly eaten by all sorts of animals.
I boiled and ate 3 pods of one of the Clianthus, not sure which, with no noticeable harm, they taste good, like peas or beans but most of the ones I tried had a few tough fibers that had to be removed from the mouth and thrown away, they were also a little dry, not great. It is possible the ones I tried were fibrous and dry because they were over-mature. It might be desirable as one of the few perennial legume crops if pods are better when young.
Refs
1. Crowe, Andrew. A Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand. 1997.
2. Connor H.E. The Poisonous Plants in New Zealand. 1992.
5. A New Zealand Phytochemical Register -Part 1. S G Brooker, R C Cambie. 1963. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Vol 1. No 7.
6. BATIRI KEI BARAVI: THE ETHNOBOTANY OF PACIFIC ISLAND COASTAL PLANTS BY R R THAMAN. ATOLL RESEARCH BULLETIN NO. 361
7. Wild Food Plants of Australia. T. Low. 1991.
8. Ethno Botanical Study of Wild Edible Plants in Adola District, Southern, Ethiopia Sintayo Demise, Zebene Asfaw. IJRAR May 2020, Volume 7, Issue 2
9. https://scd.landcareresearch.co.nz/Specimen/CHR%20567807
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