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Pittosporum

Pittosporum ( or ) is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the family Pittosporaceae. Plants in the genus Pittosporum are shrubs or trees with leaves arranged alternately along the stems. The flowers are arranged singly or in cymes, with white to yellow petals fused at the base forming a short tube, with stamens that are free from each other. The fruit is a capsule with a single locule that opens to reveal angular seeds.

Description

Plants in the genus Pittosporum are shrubs or trees, occasionally spiny, with smooth-edged linear to lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, on a petiole. The flowers are borne on the ends of branches or in leaf axils, in cymes or clusters with sepals that are free from each other. The petals are linear or lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, and partly fused to form a tube. The anthers are shorter than the filaments and open by two longitudinal slits. The fruit is a woody or leathery capsule containing seeds immersed in a sticky fluid.

Taxonomy

The genus Pittosporum was first formally described in 1788 by Joseph Gaertner in De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum from an unpublished description by Joseph Banks. The genus name (Pittosporum) is made from the Greek words πίττα (pίtta) 'pitch, tar' and σπόρος (spóros) 'seed', so 'pitch seed', referring to the viscid fluid surrounding the seeds.

Distribution

Plants in the genus Pittosporum are native to some parts of southern Africa, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, India, some parts of China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific Islands.

Selected species

References