Editing Mānuka (section)

==History and habitat==
Evidence suggests that ''Leptospermum scoparium'' originated in Australia before the onset of the [[Miocene]] aridity, and moved as a result of [[Biological dispersal|long-distance dispersal events]] to New Zealand from eastern Australia sometime during the last 20 million years.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stephens|first1=J. M. C.|last2=Molan|first2=P. C.|last3=Clarkson|first3=B. D.|year=2005|url=http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/5362|title=A review of ''Leptospermum scoparium'' (Myrtaceae) in New Zealand|issn=0028-825X|journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany|volume=43|issue=2|pages=431–449|doi=10.1080/0028825X.2005.9512966|s2cid=53515334|publication-date=2010-03-17|doi-access=free|bibcode=2005NZJB...43..431S|archive-date=2021-07-27 |access-date=2021-07-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727080610/https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/5362|url-status=live}}</ref> Cyclones and other wind activity are most likely responsible for transporting seeds long distances.<ref name="Thompson J. 1988"/> Supporters of this claim cite evidence that the genus ''[[Leptospermum]]'' arose under conditions where frequent forest fires were common (i.e. in Australia, and not temperate New Zealand), because they possess fire-adaptive traits like [[serotiny]] and storage [[lignotuber]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Bond|first1=William J.|last2=Dickinson|first2=Katharine J. M.|last3=Mark|first3=Alan F.|date=2004-02-19|title=What limits the spread of fire-dependent vegetation? Evidence from geographic variation of serotiny in a New Zealand shrub: Serotiny in a New Zealand shrub|journal=Global Ecology and Biogeography|volume=13|issue=2|pages=115–127|doi=10.1111/j.1466-882X.2004.00070.x}}</ref> It has been postulated that on arrival in New Zealand, ''L. scoparium'' became established in limited [[edaphic]]ally suitable areas until the [[History of New Zealand#Māori arrival and settlement|arrival of the Polynesian people]], whose fire and forest-clearing brought about the low-nutrient-status soils for which it was preadapted in its homeland.<ref name="NZGJ2008" /> It is now more common in New Zealand than it is in Australia. It is found throughout New Zealand, but is particularly common on the drier east coasts of the North and South Islands, and in Australia in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.