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Atherospermataceae FAMILY

Atherosperma moschatum

Atherosperma moschatum

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The bark contains a potential carcinogen[1]. Another report says that the whole plant might be poisonous[2].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

Atherosperma moschatum is a plant of the warm temperate zone, where it grows at elevations up to 2,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 14 - 20°c, but can tolerate 7 - 24°c[3]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about 10°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c[3]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,300 - 1,700mm, but tolerates 1,000 - 2,000mm[3]. It does not grow well in colder areas of the temperate zone, though given the sheltered conditions of a woodland garden has reached a height of 3 metres tall (flowering annually) at Edinburgh Botanical Gardens (zone 6) and there are trees 6 metres tall in Cornwal (zone 8)l[4]. Requires a rich well composted lime-free soil in full sun or semi-shade[5]. Equires a position sheltered from cold, drying winds[5]. Succeeds in acid and neutral soils[6]. Plants come into flower when they are quite young. All parts of the plant are aromatic[6, 7]. The flowers diffuse a sweet perfume whilst the nuts have a musk-like fragrance similar to nutmegs[7]. 45 kilos of the bark yielded, in one case, 500g.of the essential oil[8]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms must be grown if seed is required[6].

Propagation

Seed - we have no details for this species but suggest sowing the seed in early spring in a warm greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, mid summer in a frame[5]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Atherosperma+moschatum>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Australian Medicinal Plants. — Lassak. E. V. and McCarthy. T. · New Holland Publishers · 2001 · ISBN 1876334703 ↩︎A very good and readable guide to the subject.
  2. [2]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  3. [3]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  4. [4]Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. — Bean. W. · Murray · 1981 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.
  5. [5]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  6. [6]Shrubs. — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Pan Books · 1989 · ISBN 0-330-30258-2 ↩︎Excellent photographs and a terse description of 1,900 species and cultivars.
  7. [7]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  8. [8]The Useful Native Plants of Australia. — Maiden J.H. · Turner & Co.; London. · 1889 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Terse details of the uses of many Australian plants and other species naturalised, or at least growing, in Australia. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  9. [9]Flora of Pakistan — http://www.efloras.org ↩︎As of 2006, there is not much information on habitats available, but it is being developed and promises to be an excellent resource.
  10. [10]Flora of Victoria. — Ewart. A. J. · University Press; Melbourne · 1930 ↩︎A flora of eastern Australia, it is rather short on information that is useful to the plant project.
  11. [11]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  12. [12]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  13. [13]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  14. [14]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  15. [15]Useful Wild Plants in Australia. — Cribb. A. B. and J. W. · William Collins Pty Ltd. Sidney · 1981 · ISBN 0-00-216441-8 ↩︎A very readable book.