Native bread

Identity and name

Native bread is the common name for Laccocephalum mylittae, a wood-associated polypore whose underground sclerotium is the edible structure. The species was formerly named Polyporus mylittae. The catalogue carries Laccocephalum mylittae as a research name with no blanket current-name validation.

The edible sclerotium

The edible part is the underground sclerotium, a firm storage body that the Australian Native Bread account describes as sometimes growing to about the size of a football. Early accounts describe it as eaten raw or roasted. The page describes its flavour as similar to boiled rice, while a specimen from near Braidwood was found to be bland.

People located the sclerotium by smell. The Australian account describes pushing a stick into the ground while walking and sniffing the stick after pulling it out.

Habitat and fire

Fungimap's entry for the species says the fungus fruits on the ground only in disturbed or burnt native vegetation, and that fresh fruit bodies are soft but tough and pure white to cream. Other accounts link the sclerotium to buried wood and suggest that fire triggers fruiting, after which the stored food is used up and the sclerotium eventually breaks down.

Evidence limits

The Australian account draws largely on a chapter in Fungi of Australia, Volume 1B, and does not name specific Aboriginal communities. It warns that early European accounts may be unreliable because of cross-cultural misunderstanding, and that many reports lack the detail needed to confirm which species was used.

No modern identification or safety assessment is given in the sources read. Identification of the sclerotium in the field requires specialist confirmation, and no preparation is recommended here beyond what the historical accounts describe.