Tasmannia lanceolata 

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information

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

Other links:         

Plant  information

Common name:                Tasmanian Pepperberry

• Also, mountain pepper

Conservation status:  unknown

Etymology:   

Flowers:                  

• The small cream or white flowers appear in summer

• There are separate male and female plants

Fruit:                         

• Black, globose, two-lobed berries 5–8 mm wide, which appear in autumn

Leaves:         

• The aromatic leaves are lanceolate to narrow-elliptic or oblanceolate, 4–12 cm long, and 0.7–2.0 cm wide

• A distinctly pale undersurface

Stem & branches: 

• Stems are quite red in colour

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A shrub from 2–10 m high

Habitat:   

• It is found in gullies 

• In woodlands and rainforests and cool temperate rainforest of south-eastern Australia

Distribution:                  

• Native to  Tasmania and northwards through Victoria to Barrington Tops in NSW

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Originally described by French botanist Jean Louis Marie Poiret, it gained its current name in 1969 by A.C. Smith

  • It had been known for many years as Drimys lanceolata

• Uses

  • Polygodial has been identified as the primary active compound in Tasmannia lanceolata, and is also responsible for its peppery taste

  • The fruits also contain benzoic acids, flavanols, and flavanones, as well as eugenol, methyl eugenol, and gallic acid, and also the glycosides quercetin and rutin

  • The leaf and berry have long been used as a spice, typically dried

  • The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that common names included "Pepper Tree" and that "the drupe is used as a condiment, being a fair substitute for pepper, or rather allspice; the leaves and bark also have a hot, biting, cinnamon-like taste"

  • More recently, it has become popularised as a bushfood condiment

  • It can be added to curries, cheeses, and alcoholic beverages

  • It is exported to Japan to flavour wasabi

  • The berries are sweet and fruity at first with a lingering peppery aftertaste

  • Dried T. lanceolata berries and leaves have strong antimicrobial activity against food spoilage organisms

  • It also has high antioxidant activity

  • Low safrole clonal selections are grown in plantations for commercial use, as safrole is considered a low-risk toxin

  • Used in colonial medicine as a substitute for Winter's bark, a stomachic, it was also used for treating scurvy

  • Tasmanian pepper is one of a number of native Australian herbs and food species being supported by the Australian Native Food Industry Ltd, which brings together producers of food species from all parts of Australia

  • The pepperberry can be used as a fish poison

  • It can be grown as an ornamental garden plant

  • Its berries attract birds, including currawongs, that feed on them

  • It can be propagated from cuttings or seed, and can grow in a well-drained acidic soil with some shade, but is sensitive to Phytophthora cinnamomi

  • Garden cultivars include 'Mt. Wellington', a compact plant with coppery new growth, and 'Suzette', a variegated cultivar

  • See also

  • List of Australian herbs and spices

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmannia_lanceolata (2023)