Pittosporum tobira

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Shrub or small tree from China and Japan, commonly planted as a hedge .

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Pittosporaceae

Trees or shrubs , evergreen , glabrous or pubescent , occasionally spiny . Leaves alternate, occasionally opposite, estipulate; leaf blade mostly leathery, margin entire, rarely dentate or lobed . Inflorescences umbellate , corymbose , paniculate , or a solitary flower, bracteate and bracteolate . Flowers usually bisexual , sometimes polygamous, actinomorphic , rarely zygomorphic, usually 5-merous (except ovary) . Sepals usually free or slightly connate . Petals free or connate, white, yellow, blue, or red. Stamens opposite sepals; filament filiform ; anther basifixed or dorsifixed , 2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally or by pores . Ovary superior, of 2 or 3( 5) carpels, usually 1-loculed or incompletely 2 5-loculed; ovules numerous , anatropous ; placentation parietal , axile , or basilar. Style short, simple or 2 5-lobed, persistent or deciduous. Fruit a capsule dehiscing by adaxial suture, or a berry. Seeds numerous; testa thin; endosperm well developed; embryo small.

Nine genera and ca. 250 species: tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Pacific Islands, especially Australia; one genus and 46 species (33 endemic) in China.[1]

Genus Pittosporum

Trees , shrubs , or sometimes subshrubs , evergreen , pubescent or glabrous . Leavs alternate, appearing opposite or pseudoverticillate , usually clustered at branchlet apex; leaf blade leathery or sometimes membranous, margin entire, undulate-dentate, or rugose . Inflorescences terminal or axillary , umbellate , corymbose , paniculate , or a solitary flower. Flowers bisexual , rarely polygamous. Sepals 5, free , usually short and small. Petals 5, free or partly connate . Stamens 5; filament glabrous; anther dorsifixed , ± sagittate , longitudinally dehiscent . Ovary superior, usually stipitate , of 2 or 3(-5) carpels, 1-loculed or incompletely 2-5-loculed, pubescent or glabrous; ovules usually numerous , sometimes 1-4; placentas parietal and equal in number to carpels, or basilar owing to reduction of ovules. Style short, simple or 2-5-lobed, usually persistent . Capsule ellipsoid or globose , sometimes compressed , dehiscing by 2-5 valves ; pericarp woody or leathery, usually with horizontal striae adaxially. Seeds usually surrounded by glutinous or greasy material .

About 150 species: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sikkim, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; tropical and S Africa (including Madagascar), SW Asia (Yemen), Atlantic Islands (Madeira ), Australia, Indian Ocean Islands (Mascarenes, Seychelles), Pacific Islands; 46 species (33 endemic) in China.[2]

Physical Description

Landscaping

Care: Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system . Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring . For a tidy, neat appearance , shear annually to shape .

Habitat

Cultivated for ornament and possibly naturalized , forests , limestone areas, slopes , sandy seashores, roadsides; sea level to 1800 m (Ref. 102779).

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial • Coppice Potential: No • Progagated by Bulbs: No • Propagated by Bare Root: Yes • Propagated by Container: Yes • Propagated by Corms: No • Propagated by Cuttings: Yes • Propagated by Seed: No • Propagated by Sod: No • Propagated by Sprigs: No • Propagated by Tubers: No • Fruit/Seed Period Begin: Summer • Fruit/Seed Period End: Summer • Fruit/Seed Persistence: No

Growth

Culture: Space 6-8' apart.

Soil: Adapted to Medium Textured: Adapted to Medium Textured Soils • Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils: Yes • Anaerobic Tolerance: None • Salinity Tolerance: Low • CaCO3 Tolerance: Low • Minimum pH: 5.5 • Maximum pH: 7.0 • Fertility Requirement: Medium

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full to partial sun • Shade Tolerance: Intermediate

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High • Minimum Precipitation: 24 • Maximum Precipitation: 60 • Moisture Use: Medium • Water Requirements: Water regularly, when top 3 in. of soil is dry.

Temperature: Minimum Temperature (F): 7 • Minimum Frost Free Days: 220 • Heat Zones: High: 12 (>210 days) Low:3 (>7 to 14 days) (map) • Cold Hardiness: High:11 (Above 40 F) Low:8 (10 to 20 F) (map)

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Pittosporum

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 42 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

P. argentifolium (Hawai'i Poisonberry Tree) · P. bicolor (Cheesewood) · P. confertiflorum (Ho'awa) · P. crassifolium (Karo) · P. eugenioides (Lemonwood) · P. flocculosum (Waianae Range Cheesewood) · P. gayanum (Waialeale Cheesewood) · P. glabrum (Ho'awa) · P. hawaiiense (Hawai'i Cheesewood) · P. hosmeri (Kona Cheesewood) · P. illicioides (Hai Jin Zi) · P. kauaiense (Kauai Cheesewood) · P. monae (Mona Cheesewood) · P. napaliense (Royal Cheesewood) · P. napaulense (Bhutan Pittosporum) · P. obcordatum (Heart-Leaved Kohuhu) · P. pentandrum (Taiwanese Cheesewood) · P. phylliraeoides (Weeping Pittosporum) · P. ralphii (Ralph's Desertwillow) · P. resiniferum (Petroleum Nut) · P. revolutum (Brisbane Laurel) · P. tenuifolium (Tawhiwhi) · P. tenuifolium tenuifolium (Tawhiwhi) · P. tenuifolium 'Brockhill Compact' (Tawhiwhi 'brockhill Compact') · P. tenuifolium 'Emerald Star' (Tawhiwhi 'emerald Star') · P. tenuifolium 'Garnettii' (Frosted Tawhiwhi) · P. tenuifolium 'Golf Ball' (Golf Ball Kohuhu) · P. tenuifolium 'Irene Patterson' (Kohuhu) · P. tenuifolium 'Silver Sheen' (Silver Sheen Kohuhu) · P. tenuifolium 'Tom Thumb' (Kohuhu) · P. terminalioides (Cream Cheesewood) · P. tobira (Australian Laurel) · P. tobira 'Shima' (Cream De Mint" Dwarf Mock Orange) · P. tobira 'Turner's Variegated Dwarf' (Turner's Pitt" Mock Orange) · P. tobira 'Variegata' (Australian Laurel) · P. tobira 'Variegatum' (Variegated Japanese Mock Orange) · P. tobira 'Wheelers Dwarf' (Australian Laurel) · P. undulatum (Australian Cheesewood) · P. undulatum 'Victoria' (Sweet Pittosporum) · P. viridiflorum (Cape Cheesewood) · P. 'Stephens Island' (Pittosporum) · P. 'Trim's Hedger' (Pittosporum 'trim's Hedger')

More Info

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Further Reading

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• About trees, shrubs, and climbing plants for South Africa; concise hints on the making of farm plantations, shrubberies. .. Maritzburg, 1919. url p. 89.
• American forests. Washington [etc.]American Forestry Association [etc.] url p. 104.
• An outline of plant geography, by Douglas Houghton Campbell. New York, The Macmillan company, 1926. url p. 386, p. 80.
• Annual report of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. [Orono, Me.: Maine State College, 1885-1953. url p. 47.
• Beautiful flowering shrubs, London, Cassell & company, ltd., [1922] url p. 272.
• Biltmore Nursery, Biltmorse, N.C. [North Carolina?: The Nursery?], c1912 url p. 52.
• Bulletin - Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. [Orono]Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. url .
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• Bulletin of the Imperial Agricultural Experiment Station in Japan. Nishigahara, Tokyo url p. 138, p. 153.
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• Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 49 1922 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 406.
• C. E. Hobbs Botanical hand-book of common local, English, botanical and pharmacopial names arranged in alphabetical order, of most of the crude vegetable drugs, etc., in common use. Especially designed as a reference book for druggists and apothecaries. Comp. and pub. by Charles E. Hobbs. Boston, Printed by C.C. Roberts, 1876. url p. 91.
• Chronological history of plants: man's record of his own existence illustrated through their names, uses, and companionship. Boston, Little, Brown & company, 1879. url .
• Class book of botany. Being outlines of the structure, physiology and classification of plants. With a flora of all parts of the United States and Canada. By Alphonso Wood. .. New York, A.S. Barnes & Burr;1860. url p. 285.
• Class-book of botany: being outlines of the structure, physiology, and classification of plants: with a flora of the United States and Canada / by Alphonso Wood. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co.; 1874, c1869. url p. 285.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 6 1901 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 833.
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• Curtis's botanical magazine. 34 1811 London; New York [etc.]: Academic Press [etc.] url .
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• Flora of Japan: in English: combined, much revised and extended translation / by the author of his Flora of Japan (1953) and Flora of Japan, Pteridophyta (1957); edited by Frederick G. Meyer and Egbert H. Walker. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1965. url , p. 2, p. 515.
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• Manual of vascular plants of the lower Yangtze Valley, China. Corvallis, Oregon State College[1958] url p. 153, p. 608.
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• Natural areas inventory of Carteret County, North Carolina: for the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, Coastal Natural Area Inventory Project / [Raleigh]: N.C. Coastal Energy Impact Program, Office of Coastal Management, N.C. Dept. of Natural Resources and Community Development, [1983]. url p. 18.
• Occasional papers - San Diego Society of Natural History. 1961 San Diego, The Society. url p. 27.
• Ornamental gardening in Florida, by Charles Torrey Simpson; a treatise on the decorative plants adapted to Florida and their cultivation, with suggestions for the ornamentation of Florida homes and grounds. Little River, Fla., The author, 1916. url p. 196, p. 196.
• Our native birds of song and beauty, being a complete history of all the songbirds, flycatchers, hummingbirds, swifts, goatsuckers, woodpeckers, kingfishers, trogons, cuckoos, and parrots, of North America. Milwaukee, G. Brumder, 1893-96. url .
• Pamphlets on silviculture. [1899- url p. 1240.
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• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 105.
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• Plant life of Alabama. An account of the distribution, modes of association, and adaptations of the flora of Alabama, together with a systematic catalogue of the plants growing in the state. Prepared in cooperationwith the Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1901. url , .
• Plant life of Alabama: an account of the distribution, modes of association, and adaptations of the flora of Alabama, together with a systematic catalogue of the plants growing in the state / by Charles Mohr. Montgomery, Ala.: Brown Printing Co., 1901. url p. 833.
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Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 15, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 02, 2008:

• Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Bishop Museum Natural History Specimen Data
• Comisión nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad, Herbario del Instituto de Ecología, A.C., México
• GBIF-Spain, Dirección General de Investigación, Desarrollo Tecnológico e Innovación de la Junta de Extremadura(DGIDTI): HSS
• GBIF-Spain, Hortus Botanicus Sollerensis Herbarium
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• National Institute of Genetics, ROIS, Herbarium Specimens of Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo Pref., Japan
• Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility, Magnoliophyta
• Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum
• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2649456
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-24067
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13742775
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:684716-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 28756
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 24067
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 684716-1
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: PITO2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 56492

Footnotes

1. Zhi-Yun Zhang & Nicholas J. Turland "Pittosporaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 9 Page 1. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Pittosporum". in Flora of China Vol. 9 Page 1. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

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