Yam Daisy (murnong) from seed

There are three species of native perennial root vegetable called Yam Daisy (also called Murnong), the one I am growing is Microseris walteri.  

I am told that of the three, M walteri is the tastiest, and grows the largest fattest roots with the least fiber.  Yam daisy used to be considered as one single species, then one species with several different subspecies, now it is considered to be three separate species (although there may be more lurking out there).

Yam daisy used to be very common around here and was a staple food prior to European settlement, but it is very rare now.  Sadly the yam daisy has all but disappeared from much of its native range.  I know very few people who have ever eaten yam daisy, and even less who have grown it.  

I had been looking for yam daisy plants or seeds for a few years but was never able to get it.  A year or two ago a very generous grower friend of mine asked if I could track down some yam daisy seeds for him.  He has given me plenty of seeds over the years so I put in some decent effort and started to look around online and ask around a bit more seriously.  For some reason everywhere has been sold out.  I found one place selling 10 seeds for $8 (plus postage), but that price is absurd for something that is meant to have low germination rates so I kept looking.

Yam Daisy seedlings germinating

Yam daisy is native to my area, and there are some growing not more than 50m from my house.  Unfortunately they are on crown land, so I can not touch them.  I don't think I am even allowed to collect their seed without a permit.  

I know of a native plant nursery up the road who has yam daisy, unfortunately they are not selling their plants as they are building up stock, plus they could not tell me which species they had.

I found some yam daisy seeds for sale recently, they were Microseris walteri.  I planted half of the seeds and posted the other half of the seeds to my friend.  It took me a few years, bit I finally got him some seeds.

I have heard that yam daisy usually displays a germination rate of about 10%.  I planted a dozen seeds, and hoped that with a bit of luck I should get 2 or 3 of them to grow.  I figured from there I could build up numbers in time.

I surface sowed the seeds in late winter, partially protected them from the heaviest frosts, and had 100% germination.  Every single seed germinated, even the smaller brown seeds that I assumed were not viable have germinated!  

My guess is fresh seeds germinate well and germination drops off quickly in older seed.  That's good to know.

Murnong seedlings - 100% germination from fresh seeds

I don't really know how to grow yam daisy, but they are native to this region so they should survive.  Hopefully these grow well for me and produce seed in season. 

If they grow for me and produce seed I would love to do a little yam daisy breeding to see if I can produce fatter roots, or sweeter roots, or generally improved plants.

I have no idea how much (if any) genetic diversity is in my stock, but I assume they are completely different to the local plants growing near by.  As the native plants are so close, and there are a large number of native pollinators here, it is reasonable to assume there will be some local pollen finding its way into my stock.  That will introduce diversity, and make breeding improved plants a little easier.

Given how absurdly difficult yam daisy is to come by, and the fact that they ought to be more commonly grown through their native home range, if I ever have any spare seed or extra plants I will offer them through my for sale page.  These seedlings are only germinating and getting their first true leaves now, so I can't imagine I will have anything for sale overly soon.

Update 06 November 2021: my plants are about to send up flower stalks.  They are very young, so I had expected this to still be a long time off.

Look closely, the plants on the right are sending up flower stalks