Tasmannia

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Basal Angiosperms > Magnoliids > Canellales > Winteraceae > Tasmannia

Other links:         

Plant  information

Common name:                Pepperbush

Conservation status:  ...

Etymology:   

Flowers:                  

Fruit:                         

Leaves:         

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

Habitat:   

•  It grows in moist mountain forests and in wet areas in the drier forest and along watercourses to an elevation of 1500 m 

Distribution:                  

• Native to Australia, New Guinea, Sulawesi, Borneo, and the Philippines

• In Australia, the genus Tasmannia ranges from Tasmania and eastern Victoria and NSW to southeastern Queensland, and in the mountains of northeastern Queensland

Species:                     

• World:            40

• Australia:        8

Additional notes:     

• Tasmannia is a genus of woody, evergreen flowering plants of the family Winteraceae

• The Winteraceae are magnoliids, and are associated with the humid Antarctic flora of the Southern Hemisphere

• The members of the family generally have aromatic bark and leaves, and some are used to extract essential oils

• The peppery-flavored fruits and leaves (especially dried) of this genus are increasingly used as a condiment in Australia

• Taxonomy

  • The first description of the genus was published by Robert Brown

  • The species of Tasmannia were formerly classified in genus Drimys, a related group of Winteraceae native to the Neotropics

  • Recent studies have led to an increasing consensus among botanists to split the genus into two, with the Neotropical species remaining in genus Drimys, and the Australasian species classified in genus Tasmannia

• List of Tasmannia species

  • 36 species are currently accepted

    • Tasmannia acutifolia – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia arfakensis – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia beccariana – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia brassii – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia buxifolia – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia coriacea – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia cyclopum – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia densifolia – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia dictyophlebia – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia elongata – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia fistulosa – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia glaucifolia (fragrant pepperbush) – NSW

    • Tasmannia grandiflora – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia hatamensis – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia insipida (brush pepperbush) – New Guinea and eastern Australia

    • Tasmannia lamii – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia lanceolata (mountain pepperbush) – NSW and Tasmania

    • Tasmannia macrantha – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia membranea (pepper tree) – northeastern Queensland

    • Tasmannia microphylla – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia montis-wilhelmii – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia myrtoides – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia obovata – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia oligandra – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia pachyphylla – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia parviflora – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia piperita – Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands, Maluku, New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sulawesi

    • Tasmannia pittosporoides – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia purpurascens  (broadleaf pepperbush) – NSW

    • Tasmannia reticulata – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia rosea – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia rubiginosa – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia stipitata Dorrigo pepper – NSW

    • Tasmannia vaccinioides – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia verticillata – New Guinea

    • Tasmannia vickeriana  (Baw Baw pepper) – Victoria

    • Tasmannia xerophila   (alpine pepperbush) – NSW and Victoria

• Culinary use

  • 'Tasmanian pepper' or 'mountain pepper' (T. lanceolata, often referred to as Drimys lanceolata or T. aromatica) was the original pepperbush used by colonial Australians, and was introduced into cultivation in Cornwall, UK, to become the 'Cornish pepperleaf' associated with Cornish cuisine

  • It has large, peppery berries which are also high in antioxidants

  • Safrole is the biggest limitation with using wild strains of mountain pepper, and safrole-free strains of mountain pepper have been selected for the spice trade

  • Tasmannia stipitata, Dorrigo pepper, is also sold as a spice and was the original pepperbush used in specialty native food restaurants in the 1980s

  • Dorrigo pepper is safrole free and has a strong peppery flavour

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmannia (Jan 2024)