Tasmannia

Tasmannia
Tasmannia lanceolata Mount Donna Buang, Victoria, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Magnoliids
Order:	Canellales
Family:	Winteraceae
Genus:	Tasmannia R.Br.

Tasmannia is a genus of woody, evergreen flowering plants of the family Winteraceae. The 40 species of Tasmannia are native to Australia, New Guinea, Sulawesi, Borneo, and the Philippines. The Winteraceae are magnoliids, and 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 (especially dried) of this genus are increasingly used as a condiment in Australia. The peppery flavour can be attributed to polygodial.

The first description of the genus was published by Robert Brown. The species of Tasmannia were formerly classified in genus Drimys, a related group of Winteraceae native to the Neotropics. 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 m (5000 ft).

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