''Tasmannia stipitata'', commonly known as northern pepperbush is a flowering plant in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Winteraceae Winteraceae is a primitive family of tropical trees and shrubs including 93 species in five genera. It is of particular interest because it is such a primitive angiosperm family, distantly related to Magnoliaceae, though it has a much more south ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s and the female flowers with 2 to 9

carpels Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ...

. The fruit is bluish-violet and contains 12 to 15 seeds.

Description

''Tasmannia stipitata'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has smooth, dull purplish branchlets. Its leaves are lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic, long and wide, sometimes on a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

up to long. Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants and usually have 2, sometimes up to 6 egg-shaped petals long. Male flowers are borne on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long and have 21 to 65 stamens, and female flowers are on a pedicel long with 2 to 9 carpels with 13 to 22

ovules In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the fe ...

. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is an oblong to oval, bluish-violet berry long with 12 to 15 strongly curved seeds long.

Taxonomy

'This species was first formally described in 1937 by

Joyce Winifred Vickery Joyce Winifred Vickery (15 December 190829 May 1979) was an Australian botanist who specialised in taxonomy and became well known in Australia for forensic botany. Early life and education Joyce was born in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield. She ...

who gave it the name ''Drimys stipitata'' in the ''

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes ''the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches'' and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) in 1874 and incorporated in 1884. History The Society succ ...

'' from a specimen collected by

Joseph Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

. In 1969,

Albert Charles Smith Albert Charles Smith (April 5, 1906 – May 23, 1999) was an American botanist who served as director of the National Museum of Natural History and Arnold Arboretum and was the former president of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. Life S ...

transferred the species to '' Tasmannia'' as ''T. stipitata'' in the journal ''

Taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

''Tasmannia stipitata'' grows in moist forest and rainforest between Girraween National Park in south-eastern Queensland to

Barrington Tops Barrington Tops is part of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, Australia, between Gloucester and Scone. In 1934, the area was difficult to access and was described as being "not traceable to any man-made feature". Part of the area has ...

in northern New South Wales, usually at altitudes above .

Uses

Culinary use

The culinary quality of ''T. stipitata'' was recognized in the mid-1980s by horticulturist Peter Hardwick, who gave it the name 'Dorrigo pepper', and Jean-Paul Bruneteau, then chef at Rowntrees Restaurant, Sydney. It is mainly wild harvested from the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. Dorrigo pepper has a woody-

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

and peppery note in the leaves and the fruit/seed. The hot peppery flavor is derived from polygodial, an

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

component, common to most species in the family.

References

External links

''Tasmannia stipitata'' Occurrence data
from AVH * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7687553 Bushfood Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Magnoliids of Australia stipitata Plants described in 1937 Dioecious plants