Pic source BirdLife.org.au
Most of you will have seen these little things on leaves but like me that was as far as it went - that is until yesterday! I’ve been reading my Wild Food Plants book ever on the lookout for edibles. Yeah yeah I know! And found an entry for Lerps and Manna - yes perhaps manna from heaven!
So ..... Lerps are tiny white protective shields produced on eucalypt leaves by sap-sucking psyllid bugs and look like tiny balls of glistening fairy floss. They’re made largely of sugars and starches extracted from the sap and excreted by the bugs. These sugary delights and the even sweeter (they say) mannas were eaten by Aborigines - and birds love it.
I found some and tried one yesterday. It wasn’t very sweet but I’m prepared to try others. Under the wee sugar confection I picked off I found the little guy responsible for it. I’ve tried green ants but NO I didn’t eat him. There could be worse things - ‘insects’ are the new or rather next big super food in the western world. Evidently they are one of the most widely eaten food in the rest of the world.
Like crystallised spun sugar
Of course I videoed it wiggling about exposed to the sunlight poor wee thing but will save you that bit of trivia
Another unexpected sweetie in Australia is manna which according to Tim Low (author of my new best paper friend) is soft and white and appears after insect attack on the leaves or trunks of particular eucalypts, especially Manna Gum and Brittle Gum. Talking of which he suggests the Old Testament ‘manna from heaven’ may have been the sweet congealed fluid secreted by tamarisk trees under attack from bugs.
We live and learn. Nature is so bountiful if you only know how to look - and are prepared to try something new. What a wonderful world 🎶🎶🎶
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