Eucalyptus piperita
Sydney Peppermint
Sydney Peppermint
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids > Myrtaceae > Eucalyptus piperita
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Common name: Sydney Peppermint
Also, the Urn-fruited Peppermint
Conservation status: ...
Etymology:
The name Eucalyptus is derived from the Ancient Greek words eu meaning 'good'and kalypto meaning '(I) cover, conceal, hide', referring to the operculum covering the flower buds
The specific epithet piperita is due to the odour of its essential oil being similar to that of Mentha × piperita, the peppermint
Flowers:
Bright yellow-green flowers are borne in clusters of seven or more in late spring to mid summer
Fruit:
Fruit is urceolate (urn shaped) to barrel shaped, especially on the sides of valleys
Leaves:
Adult leaves are dull blue-green and often oblique
Stem & branches:
It has grey, rough and finely fibrous bark on its trunk, but its branches are smooth and white
Roots:
Habit:
A small to medium forest tree
Habitat:
It occurs in the tablelands and coastal areas especially on the sides of valleys
Distribution:
Native to central and southern NSW
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Specimens of E. piperita were first collected by First Fleet surgeon and naturalist John White, and published by James Edward Smith in his appendix to White's 1790 Journal of a Voyage to NSW
Smith gave it the specific epithet piperita because its odour of its essential oil was so similar to that of Mentha × piperita, the peppermint
Smith's description was republished in his 1793 A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland, but this did not stop Richard Anthony Salisbury publishing the same plant as Metrosideros aromatica in 1796
Uses
The volatile leaf oil of E. piperita has been used in stomach upsets
E. piperita 'type' has a fresh weight oil yield of 2.25% containing piperitone (40–50%) and phellandrene
Australian botanist, Joseph Maiden, was of the opinion that Dennis Considen, a surgeon on the First Fleet deserves credit for being the first person to recognize the medicinal value of Eucalyptus oil extracted from E. piperita found growing on the shores of Port Jackson in 1788
This view is based on a letter Considen wrote in November 1788 to an English colleague, Dr Anthony Hamilton, saying that "... we have a large peppermint tree which is equal if not superior to our English peppermint
I have sent you a specimen of it if there is any merit in applying these and many other simples[sic] to the benefit of the poor wretches here, I certainly claim it, being the first who discovered and recommended them"
Considen dispatched an oil sample for further evaluation in England on the return voyage of the Golden Grove in 1788
John White, Surgeon General to the Colony, is also credited with the discovery, in documenting the matter and organizing oil samples to be sent back to England
The surgeons initially based their assumptions of the medicinal properties of E. piperita from the similarity of its fragrance to English peppermint
Sources of information: