Tasmannia

Tasmannia is a genus of woody, evergreen flowering plants of the family Winteraceae. The species of Tasmannia are native to Australia, New Guinea, Celebes, Borneo, and Philippines. The Winteraceae are palaeodicots, and are considered one of the most primitive flowering plants because of the floral anatomy and wood structure. They 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 (esp. dried) of this genus are increasingly used as a condiment in Australia. The peppery flavour come from a pungent compounds called polygodial.

Overview
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.

In Australia, the Tasmannia genus 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 mountain forests and in wet areas in the drier forest and along watercourses to an elevation of 1500 metres.

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. Introduced into cultivation in Cornwall, U.K., to become the 'Cornish pepperleaf' associated with Cornish cuisine. It is an attractive dioecious shrub which grows up to 10 m, but more typically 2-3 m in height in an open form, with lance-shaped dark green leaves and reddish stems.

Other Tasmannia species are also used as Australian spices, especially Tasmannia xerophila, alpine pepper, and Tasmannia stipitata, Dorrigo Pepper.

List of Tasmannia species and notes:


 * T. glaucifolia - Fragrant Pepperbush Reported to be high in polygodial but also contains high safrole levels which limits culinary use.


 * T. insipida - Brush Pepperbush Native to the subtropics. Usually has little flavour in the leaf, hence the name. However, the seed has the distinctive pepper flavour.


 * T. lanceolata - Mountain Pepperbush (Aus) or Cornish Pepperleaf (UK) The most commonly available commercial bush pepper. Safrole free cultivars are being developed.


 * T. membranea – Pepper Tree Native to the highlands of north-eastern Queensland.


 * T. piperita - Native to New Guinea.


 * T. purpurascens - Broad Leaf Pepperbush. Contains high polygodial levels. Is 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. stipitata - Dorrigo Pepper. High polygodial levels (a pungent active) and safrole free. Available commercially as a spice.


 * T.xerophila, Alpine or Snow Pepper. Contains the essential oil isolate myristicin and reputed to have high levels of polygodial. Available commercially as a spice.