Pittosporum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pittosporum
Pittosporum tobira
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Apiales Family: Pittosporaceae Genus: Pittosporum
Species
Many species, including Pittosporum angustifolium Pittosporum bicolor Pittosporum bracteolatum Pittosporum coriaceum Pittosporum crassifolium Pittosporum erioloma Pittosporum eugenioides Pittosporum ferrugineum Pittosporum lancifolium Pittosporum ligustrifolium Pittosporum moluccanum Pittosporum multiflorum Pittosporum oreillyanum Pittosporum napaliense Pittosporum nativitatis Pittosporum phillyreoides Pittosporum resiniferum Pittosporum revolutum Pittosporum rhombifolium Pittosporum rubiginosum Pittosporum spinescens Pittosporum tenuifolium Pittosporum tobira Pittosporum trilobum Pittosporum undulatum Pittosporum venulosum Pittosporum viscidum Pittosporum wingii

Pittosporum is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Pittosporaceae. The genus is probably Gondwanan in origin; its present range extends from Australasia, Oceania, eastern Asia and some parts of Africa.

The species are trees and shrubs growing to 2-30 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged or whorled, simple, with an entire or waved (rarely lobed) margin. The flowers are produced singly or in umbels or corymbs, each flower with five sepals and five petals; they are often sweetly scented. The fruit is a woody seed capsule, which bursts on ripening to release the numerous seeds. The seeds are coated with a sticky resinous substance. The genus is named after their sticky seeds, from the Greek meaning 'pitch-seed'.

Pittosporum undulatum (Sweet Pittosporum) from eastern Australia is an invasive weed in some areas. Pittosporum tenuifolium and P. eugenioides, both from New Zealand, and Pittosporum tobira from southern Japan are widely cultivated as ornamental plants in warm areas.

[edit] References

• Ecology of Pittosporum undulatum (pdf file)
• Australian Plants: Pittosporum undulatum

[edit] External links

• A.J. Townsend (1999). Pittosporum patulum recovery plan, 1999-2009 (PDF). Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved on 2007-18-04.