Manuka Circle was on Walter Burley Griffin's original plan for Canberra and named after the New Zealand tea tree Leptospermum scoparium.
In New Zealand, the Invercargill Brewery seasonally each winter brew a rauchbier named Smokin' Bishop, made using Manuka.
Leptospermum | Schizachyrium scoparium | Leptospermum scoparium | Leptospermum recurvum | Dicranum scoparium |
It feeds nocturnally on New Zealand native foliage such as mānuka and pōhutukawa, but can also be found feeding on introduced plants, particularly Roses and genus Rubus (berries).
The larvae feed on a wide range of trees and shrubs, including Dacrydium cupressinum, Prumnopitys taxifolia, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, Libocedrus bidwillii, Cupressus macrocarpa, Leptospermum scoparium, Kunzea ericoides, Ozothamnus leptophyllus, Abies, Picea, Pinus and Thuja species.
Leptospermone is a chemical compound (a β-triketone) produced by some members of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), such as Callistemon citrinus (Lemon Bottlebrush), a shrub native to Australia, and Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka), a New Zealand tree from which it gets its name.