Pittosporum tobira  Ait.   Pittosporaceae (Pittosporum Family)   China, Japan   Mock Orange            Japanese Pittosporum

                                            April Photo

Plant Characteristics: A winter flowering shrub 10-20 ft. high, very attractive in shrubberies, and grown as a house-plant in the N.; lvs. very thick and leathery, obovate, very obtuse, 2-4 in. long, glabrous, margins revolute; fls. in terminal umbels, fragrant, petals white or greenish, nearly 1/2 in. long; stamens 5; fr. ovoid, 1/4-1/2 in. long, angled, densely short-hairy.

Habitat:  Escape from cultivation.  Has borderline hardiness to frost.  (Sunset Editors, New Western Garden Book 1984. 416).

Name:  Pittosporum, from Greek for "pitch" and "seed", referring to the resinous coating of the seeds.  Tobira is a native Japanese name.  (Bailey 488).

General:  Occasional in the study area, found in the willow areas at Northstar Beach, Big Canyon and near the end of Back Bay Dr.  (my comments).     The leaves, stems, and the reddish fruits are poisonous if ingested.  (James 86).      Some 160 species of evergreen trees and shrubs widely distributed in trop. regions of the Old World, chiefly in the southern hemisphere.  (Bailey 488).       Naturalized.  (Hickman, Ed. 1347).

Text Ref:  Bailey 488; Hickman, Ed. 819.

Photo Ref:  Mar 2-April 1 84 # 13; Oct 01 # 12,13; Nov-April 01-02 #19A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.

First Found: April 1984.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 242.

Plant specimen donated to UC Riverside in 2004.

Last edit 8/7/05. 

               April Photo                                         October Photo