Tasmannia lanceolata

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Tasmannia lanceolata
Tasmannia lanceolata female.jpg
Female flowers and immature fruit
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Canellales
Family: Winteraceae
Genus: Tasmannia
Species:
T. lanceolata
Binomial name
Tasmannia lanceolata
Synonyms [1]
List
    • Drimys aromatica(R.Br. ex DC.) F.Muell.
    • Drimys aromatica(R.Br. ex DC.) F.Muell. var. aromatica
    • Drimys lanceolata(Poir.) Baill.
    • Drimys lanceolata(Poir.) Baill. var. lanceolata
    • Drimys xerophila var. β aromatica(R.Br. ex DC.) P.Parm.
    • Tasmania aromaticaF.Muell. orth. var.
    • Tasmannia aromaticaR.Br. ex DC.
    • Winterana lanceolataPoir.
    • Winterania lanceolataPoir. orth. var.
Mature fruit Tasmannia lanceolata.jpg
Mature fruit
Habit on Mount Wellington Tasmannia lanceolata habit.jpg
Habit on Mount Wellington

Tasmannia lanceolata, commonly known as pepper tree, native pepper, mountain pepper or mountain pepperbush, [2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Winteraceae , and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a dioecious bushy shrub to small tree with lance-shaped or narrowly ellipic leaves, male and female flowers on separate plants, the flowers with 3 to 9 petals, and the fruit a deep maroon to glossy black berry.

Contents

Description

Tasmannia lanceolata is a bushy shrub or small tree that typically grows to a height of 1.5–4 m (4 ft 11 in – 13 ft 1 in) and has smooth, reddish branchlets. Its leaves are lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic, 20–120 mm (0.79–4.72 in) long and 6–35 mm (0.24–1.38 in) wide on a petiole 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) long. Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, each flower with 3 to 9 linear or narrowly egg-shaped petals 4–10 mm (0.16–0.39 in) long and 1.5–3.5 mm (0.059–0.138 in) wide. Male flowers are borne on a pedicel 8–25 mm (0.31–0.98 in) long and have 15 to 28 stamens, female flowers are on a pedicel 4–12 mm (0.16–0.47 in) long with 1 or 2 carpels with 9 to 18 ovules. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a spherical, deep maroon to glossy black berry 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long with 4 to 18 strongly curved seeds 2.5–3.5 mm (0.098–0.138 in) long. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1808 by Jean Louis Marie Poiret, who gave it the name Winterana lanceolata in Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique, from specimens collected by Jacques Labillardière from the coast of Australia. [6] In 1969, Albert Charles Smith transferred the species to Tasmannia as T. lanceolata in the journal Taxon . [7]

Distribution and habitat

Tasmannia lanceolata grows in forest and temperate rainforest south from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, altitudes of 300 to 1,400 m (980 to 4,590 ft) in the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, and Tasmania. [2] [4] [5] [8]

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. [9]

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." [10]

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. [11] Low safrole clonal selections are grown in plantations for commercial use, as safrole is considered a low-risk toxin. [12]

Used in colonial medicine as a substitute for Winter's bark, [10] a stomachic, it was also used for treating scurvy. [13] 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. [14] The pepperberry can be used as a fish poison.

It can be grown as an ornamental garden plant. Its berries attract birds, [15] 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, [16] and 'Suzette', a variegated cultivar. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Sassafras is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia. The genus is distinguished by its aromatic properties, which have made the tree useful to humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canellaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Canellaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Canellales. The order includes only one other family, the Winteraceae. Canellaceae is native to the Afrotropical and Neotropical realms. They are small to medium trees, rarely shrubs, evergreen and aromatic. The flowers and fruit are often red.

<i>Tasmannia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Tasmannia is a genus of about 36 species of flowering plants in the family Winteraceae, and is native to Australia and New Guinea, with one species also found in parts of Southeast Asia. Plants in the genus Tasmannia are shrubs or small trees, usually dioecious with simple leaves, mostly white, sometimes yellow flowers, and one to many clusters of berries.

<i>Backhousia citriodora</i> Species of tree

Backhousia citriodora is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, genus Backhousia. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane.

<i>Kunzea pomifera</i> Species of plant

Kunzea pomifera, commonly known as muntries, emu apples, native cranberries, munthari, muntaberry or monterry, is a low-growing or prostrate shrub with hairy stems, small, mostly egg-shaped leaves, groups of white flowers on the ends of the branches and fleshy, more or less spherical, edible fruit.

<i>Syzygium luehmannii</i> Species of tree

Syzygium luehmannii is a medium-sized coastal rainforest tree native to Australia. Common names include riberry, small leaved lilly pilly, cherry satinash, cherry alder, or clove lilli pilli.

<i>Eucalyptus olida</i> Species of eucalyptus

Eucalyptus olida, commonly known as strawberry gum or sometimes as forest berry, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to a restricted area of New South Wales, Australia. It has rough, flaky and fibrous bark on the trunk and larger branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven to fifteen or more, white flowers and barrel-shaped or bell-shaped fruit.

<i>Tasmannia stipitata</i> Species of shrub

Tasmannia stipitata, commonly known as northern pepperbush is a flowering plant in the family Winteraceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has narrowly lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaves and male and female flowers on separate plants, the male flowers with 21 to 65 stamens and the female flowers with 2 to 9 carpels. The fruit is bluish-violet and contains 12 to 15 seeds.

<i>Melaleuca lanceolata</i> Species of plant

Melaleuca lanceolata commonly known as black paperbark, moonah, Rottnest Island teatree and western black tea tree is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is native to Australia where it occurs in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It is a densely foliaged tree with rough bark, which flowers prolifically in summer.

<i>Austromyrtus dulcis</i> Species of shrub

Austromyrtus dulcis is a species of plant native to eastern Australia. It grows as a small spreading shrub and is easily recognised by its characteristic berries that usually ripen in summer and autumn. Common names include the midgen berry, midyim, and silky myrtle.

<i>Tasmannia xerophila</i> Species of shrub

Tasmannia xerophila, commonly known as alpine pepperbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Winteraceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a bushy shrub to small tree with lance-shaped leaves, the narrower end towards the base. Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, the male flowers with 9 to 30 stamens and the female flowers with up to 8 carpels. The fruit is glossy black and contains 2 to 7 seeds.

<i>Diospyros australis</i> Species of tree

Diospyros australis is the most southerly of the group of some 450 ebonies and persimmons. It is a shrub or small tree growing in rainforests of seaward eastern Australia. The habitat is in a variety of different rainforest forms, though not often seen in the cool temperate rainforests. The range of natural distribution is from Durras Lake near Batemans Bay in south east New South Wales, to Atherton in tropical Queensland.

<i>Tasmannia glaucifolia</i> Species of shrub

Tasmannia glaucifolia, commonly known as fragrant pepperbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Winteraceae, and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a dioecious shrub with lance-shaped leaves, the narrower end towards the base, the flowers usually without petals, male and female flowers on separate plants and the fruit is a glossy, deep purple-black berry.

<i>Tasmannia insipida</i> Species of shrub

Tasmannia insipida, commonly known as brush pepperbush, Dorrigo pepper, pepper bush, pepper tree or faint pepper bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Winteraceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves the narrower end towards the base, the flowers male and female flowers on separate plants, male flowers with 17 to 65 stamens, female flowers with a single carpel with 15-40 ovules, and the fruit a purplish berry.

<i>Tasmannia membranea</i> Species of shrub

Tasmannia membranea, commonly known as pepper tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Winteraceae, and is endemic to north-eastern Queensland. It is a shrub or tree with lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves, male and female flowers on separate plants, with two petals on each flower. The male flowers have 30 to 62 stamens, and the female flowers have a single carpel with 14 to 36 ovules, and the fruit is black.

<i>Tasmannia vickeryana</i> Species of flowering plant

Tasmannia vickeryana, commonly known as Baw Baw pepper, is a species of flowering plant in the family Winteraceae and is endemic to Victoria in Australia. It has narrowly lance-shaped leaves, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, and male and female flowers on separate plants, the male flowers with 8 to 26 stamens and the female flowers with up to 5 carpels. The fruit is dark red and contains 2 to 5 seeds.

<i>Hovea lanceolata</i> Species of legume

Hovea lanceolata is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is a small shrub with elliptic leaves and purple pea flowers. It grows in New South Wales and Queensland.

<i>Claytonia rosea</i> Species of flowering plant

Claytonia rosea, commonly called Rocky Mountain spring beauty, western springbeauty or Madrean springbeauty, is a diminutive spring blooming ephemeral plant with pale pink to magenta flowers. It grows a small round tuberous root and it one of the earliest wildflowers of spring in its range. It is found in dry meadows in forests of ponderosa and Chihuahuan pines, and moist ledges of mountain slopes of the Beaver Dam Mountains of Utah, Colorado Front Range, and Sierra Madre Occidental, south and east to the Sierra Maderas del Carmen of Coahuila.

References

  1. 1 2 "Tasmannia lanceolata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Guymer, Gordon P.; Kodela, Phillip G. "Tasmannia lanceolata". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  3. Floyd, Alex G. (1989). Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia. Inkata Press. p. 410. ISBN   0-909605-57-2.
  4. 1 2 Raleigh, Ruth E.; Entwisle, Timothy J. "Tasmannia lanceolata". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  5. 1 2 Harden, Gwen J. "Tasmannia lanceolata". Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  6. "Winterana lanceolata". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government . Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  7. "Tasmannia lanceolata". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government . Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  8. Fairley, Alan; Moore, Philip (1989). Native Plants of the Sydney Region. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin. p. 49.
  9. Cock, I.E. (2013). "The phytochemistry and chemotherapeutic potential of Tasmannia lanceolata (Tasmanian pepper): A review" (PDF). Pharmacognosy Communications. 3 (4): 13–25. doi:10.5530/pc.2013.4.3.
  10. 1 2 Maiden, J.H. (1889). The useful native plants of Australia : Including Tasmania. Sydney: Turner & Henderson. OCLC   670084041.
  11. Zhao, J.; Agboola, S. (2007). Functional Properties of Australian Bushfoods — A Report for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (PDF). ISBN   978-1-74151-429-2. OCLC   225048318. RIRDC 07/030. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  12. Menary, R.C.; Drager, V.A.; Garland, S.A. (1999). Tasmannia lanceolata — Developing a New Commercial Flavour Product. Rural Industries and Development Corporation, Australian Government. ISBN   0-642-58007-3. OCLC   44895022. RIRDC 99/124.
  13. Ewart, A.J. (1930). Flora of Victoria. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. OCLC   222480176.
  14. "Australian Native Food and Botanicalsu". Anfil.org.au. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  15. "Fact Sheet: PLANT DIARY: Tasmannia lanceolata". Gardening Australia Website. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. April 5, 2002. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  16. "Cally Gardens plant list". Archived from the original on 2 July 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  17. "Plant profile, Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery". Bluebellnursey.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2022.