Purple berries - food or death?

[ElizabethBinary]

I was on the beaches of NSW yesterday and after grabbing enough cuttlefish to keep our birds happy for years, my fiancee discovered small bushes all over the place with deep purple berries, about the size of large blueberries or small grapes all over it. I grabbed three because, hey, purple, must grow, but I wanna know if I can eat them. What are they? Googling 'ocean side purple berries' didn't really come up with anything useful.

I could take a photo, but they wilted pretty quickly after plucking.

[crowsashes]

really need a picture of the plant with the berries to be able to identify it.a plant with purple berries could be anything! lol

[ElizabethBinary]

really need a picture of the plant with the berries to be able to identify it.a plant with purple berries could be anything! lol

I was hoping location would be a factor. Surely not much grows in sand in Australia and has berries? It looks almost like a fern it's growing on too. Sorry camera died that day and I got no photos.

[Milims]

BE CAREFUL! We found a very prety plant growing on a dune at the beach - it turned out to be henbane - very poisonous! Oh and it smelled like cat wee - should have known something was up!

[Millymollymandy]

The problem is that most of us using this site have no idea what kind of wild plants grow in coastal Queensland so we can't advise, even if you had managed to take a photo.

The golden rule is - if you don't know what it is or are unsure - DO NOT EAT IT, or even taste it. It's just not worth sickness or death for the sake of a few berries, is it?

[Nick69]

Is it the Bush Tomato Plant?

[MKG]

( ... bush tomato ... waits with bated breath ... yes? ... no? ... tasted already? ... whoops - wrong kind ... )

Mike

[ElizabethBinary]

Neither, darn it! The purple was like the MOST PERFECT royal purple you've ever seen.

BAH I'll just grow the seeds and see what happens.

I've never seen this plant in QLD, I was in NSW when I found it.

[Jessiebean]

Throw me a bone here... were you up Tweed heads area or further down nearer Byron/Ballina? were the leaves fleshy or fine and feathery?

[Jessiebean]

Just a thought- was it a native ginger? These are normally found in tthe understorey of Hinterland forest rather than near the ocean...
or a native flax lily- they have wonderful purple berries...

flax lily berries

flax lily.jpeg (7.27 KiB) Viewed 3547 times

[ElizabethBinary]

Throw me a bone here... were you up Tweed heads area or further down nearer Byron/Ballina? were the leaves fleshy or fine and feathery?

I can be specific! I was at Angel's Beach.

The colour is a LOT like the flax berries... but I think it was on more of a bush. hard to tell, lots of plants around and couldn't really tell which one the berries were coming off of They didn't grow in big clusters though. They were more like sprayed here and there.

[Jessiebean]

It seems there are a few varieties of Flax lillies so it may be one...might be some kind of lead cos at least it has purple berries and thrives in sandy soil.. also seems flax berries are edible but "somewhat gritty".
I would ensure you have positive identification before you try it though!

[ElizabethBinary]

It seems there are a few varieties of Flax lillies so it may be one...might be some kind of lead cos at least it has purple berries and thrives in sandy soil.. also seems flax berries are edible but "somewhat gritty".
I would ensure you have positive identification before you try it though!

They're in a pot... once they germinate I'll take a photo, maybe it'll be useful.

Otherwise... THANK YOU. I'm not going around trying super poisonus looking berries anytime soon, but they look a lot like the flax lillies you posted, albeit on a different 'branch' persay. This is helpful!