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 ( Tasmannia piperita) also found in parts of Southeast Asia. Plants in the genus Tasmannia are shrubs or small trees, usually dioecy with simple leaves, mostly white, sometimes yellow flowers, and one to many clusters of Berry.
Description
Plants in the genus
Tasmannia are shrubs or small trees that are usually dioecious, with simple, aromatic leaves arranged alternately along the branchlets, and have fine oil dots. There are no
. The flowers are usually white, sometimes yellow and arranged singly in the axils of bud scales, appearing like an
umbel, later becoming like a whorl. The
are joined together, completely enclosing the flower bud, later splitting into lobes. The fruit is a berry arranged singly or in clusters of up to 6.
Taxonomy
The genus
Tasmannia was first formally described by published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in his
Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale, from an unpublished description by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773).
The genus name, Tasmannia honours the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.
The taxonomic status of, and evolutionary relationship between Tasmannia and Drimys has been the subject of controversy for many years. A 2004 paper by Andrew Doust and Andrew Dinnan confirmed that the two genera do not form a Monophyly group, although they share distinctive similarities in their flowers.
Species list
The following is a list of
Tasmannia species accepted by Plants of the World Online as at April 2024:
Distribution and habitat
In Australia, the genus
Tasmannia 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 m (5000 ft).
See also
Bibliography
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Sampson, F.B., Williams, J.B. and Woodland, Poh S., The Morphology and Taxonomic Position of Tasmannia glaucifolia (Winteraceae), 1988. A New Australian Species. Australian Journal of Botany 36 (4): 395–414.
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Smith, Keith and Irene. 1999. Grow your own bushfoods. New Holland Publishers, Sydney, Australia.
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Robins, Juleigh. 1996. Wild Lime: Cooking from the bushfood garden. Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia.
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Bryant, Geoff. 2005. The Random House Encyclopedia of Australian Native Plants. Random House, Sydney, Australia.
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Flora's native plants. ABC Books, Sydney, Australia.
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Low, Tim. 1991. Wild food plants of Australia. Angus & Robertson Publishers, Sydney, Australia.
External links
