An important Aboriginal food, the sweet flower and young fruits are eaten raw, being the most favoured parts of the plant. The seeds are also lightly roasted for consumption. When the pods matures, it consists mainly of bitter seeds and their plumes. The seeds are discarded and only the thick outer rind eaten. The shoots and young leaves are also eaten, whilst the older leaves are eaten after being steamed. Even the roots are eaten during times of food shortage. The only parts not eaten are the woody stems and fine roots.
 

The Bush Banana is a totemic plant that often features in Aboriginal mythology and can be found in many Aboriginal paintings.

The plant was originally named ‘Marsdenia australia’. ‘Marsdenia’, after William Marsden, 1754-1836, the Irish orientalist and numismatist.; ‘australis’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘southern’.