Tasmannia lanceolata | |
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Female flowers and immature fruit | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Magnoliids |
Order: | Canellales |
Family: | Winteraceae |
Genus: | Tasmannia |
Species: | T. lanceolata |
Binomial name | |
Tasmannia lanceolata | |
Synonyms [1] | |
List
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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.
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]
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]
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]
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.[ citation needed ]
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." [9]
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. [10] Low safrole clonal selections are grown in plantations for commercial use, as safrole is considered a low-risk toxin. [11]
Used in colonial medicine as a substitute for Winter's bark, [9] a stomachic, it was also used for treating scurvy. [12] 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. [13] The pepperberry can be used as a fish poison.
It can be grown as an ornamental garden plant. Its berries attract birds, [14] 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, [15] and 'Suzette', a variegated cultivar. [16]
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.
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.
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.
Backhousia citriodora, commonly known as lemon myrtle, lemon scented myrtle or lemon scented ironwood, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane.
Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or fungi used for culinary or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Animal native foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and crocodile, and plant foods include fruits such as quandong, kutjera, spices such as lemon myrtle and vegetables such as warrigal greens and various native yams.
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.
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.
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.
Acronychia acidula, commonly known as lemon aspen or lemon wood, is a species of small to medium-sized rainforest tree that is endemic to Queensland. It has simple, elliptical leaves, small groups of flowers in leaf axils and more or less spherical fruit. The aromatic and acidic fruit is harvested as a bushfood.
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.
Callistachys lanceolata, commonly known as the wonnich, native willow, or greenbush is the sole species in the genus Callistachys. It is a species of erect shrub or small tree that is native to the south-west of Western Australia and is naturalised in some other Australian states.
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.
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.
Tasmannia purpurascens, commonly known as the broad-leaved pepperbush, is a shrub in the primitive family Winteraceae and is only found growing in the Barrington Tops and Ben Halls Gap regions of New South Wales. It is locally abundant in a restricted subalpine habitat with a high rainfall, often growing in the ecotone in association with Antarctic Beech.
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.
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.
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.
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.