Tasmannia
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Tasmannia is a genus of woody evergreen flowering plants, part of family Winteraceae. The species of Tasmannia are native Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. the Winteraceae are primitive dicots, 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 of this genus are increasingly used as a condiment in Australia and New Zealand.
The species of Tasmannia were formerly classified in genus Drimys, a related group of Winteraceae native to the Neotropic. 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.
Tasmanian Pepper (T. lanceolata, often referred to as T. aromatica, T. insipida, or Drimys lanceolata) is an attractive shrub which grows to 3 meters in height in an open form, with lance-shaped dark green leaves and reddish stems. It ranges from Tasmania and eastern Victoria and New South Wales to southeastern Queensland, and in the mountains of northeastern Queensland, where it grows in moist subtropical forests and in wet areas in the drier forest and along watercourses to 1500 meters elevation.
T. axillaris, also commonly referred to as Drimys axillaris, is an aromatic tree native to New Zealand, where it is known as the pepper tree.
T. purpurascens a shrub or small tree, 1-3 m high and 1.5 m wide, endemic to the Gloucester Tops and Barrington Tops in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, where it grows abundantly in moist Eucalyptus forest above 1300 meters elevation.
T. piperita is native to New Guinea.
Reference
- Doust, Andrew N. and Drinnan, Andrew N., Floral development and molecular phylogeny support the generic status of Tasmannia (Winteraceae) American Journal of Botany. 2004;91:321-331
F.B. Sampson, J.B. Williams, and Poh S. Woodland, The Morphology and Taxonomic Position of Tasmannia glaucifolia (Winteraceae), a New Australian Species, Australian Journal of Botany, 36(4):395–414 (1988)