Ms Campbell has a one acre garden Murnong Wild Food Garden in Wynyard, which is mostly planted out with more than 120 species of edible Tasmanian native plants.

The plants are not only edible but offer natural insecticide benefits, environmental protection and if grown more widely, would be at less risk of extinction.

"These plants are suited to our environment and are attractive to native insects and therefore native birds. They are not only edible, but also really good habitat plants," she said.

"We are in a real crisis at the moment losing a huge proportion of our insects, so if we can grow these plants in our gardens we will help to maintain food crops for these insects. Also, native birds will eat other insects as well, so the natives work as an insecticide. The native birds won't turn up if you only have canola in your paddock."

In terms of eating, Ms Campbell said there are many native species that are comparable to the standard herbs and greens available in our supermarkets.

"I love our Tasmanian herbs. We have the equivalent of a rosemary, a parsley, a thyme and loads of mints within our native plant range ... I don't see why we are growing European plants when we could be growing these just as flavourful, beautiful native herbs," she said.

"In the garden greens we actually have a nationally registered endangered species the Barbarea Australis, which is a spicy, peppery brassica like rocket, that can be eaten raw or cooked, and can also replace cabbage.

"The tetragonia worrigal greens are a rapidly growing, really versatile high nutrient spinach like plant, and there is nothing that you can't do with them .. for instance it makes a fabulous spanakopita, a pesto, and is good in frittatas and ommelletes."

She said the fresh leaves of the salt bush plant can be either steamed, cooked in stews or baked in the oven to make beautiful chips, while the edible flowers of the White Kunzea plant tastes like honey and can be used in desserts.

"A lot of our native plants have really tiny flowers. The European bees don't pollinate them but the Tasmanian bees and other insects do, so you increase pollination of the plant and thefore you increase bee populations and thefore the pollination of other crops too, so you improve the overall health of a farm environment."

While commercial crops exist for the Tasmanian native pepper berry, and the White Kunzea is being grown for commercial essential oil use, Ms Rees said horticultural development of native species could bring many rewards.

"A carrot 400 years ago was no bigger than your little finger with loads of hairy roots and it was purple. Now we have a foot-long, smooth-skinned carrot, and we've achieved these things through breeding and development.

"There is not a single Tasmanian plant that has had horticultural development. The native pepper berry has been cloned from good fruiting female plants, and there should be so much more of it planted commercially, but noone has done any breeding for improvement and a lot of these herbs and plants could be hugely improved over a period of time."