''Pittosporum'' ( or ) is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of about 200

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

s in the family

Pittosporaceae Pittosporaceae is a family of flowering plants that consists of 200–240 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in 9 genera. Habitats range from tropical to temperate climates of the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, Oceanian, and Australasian realms. T ...

. The genus is probably

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final sta ...

n in origin; its present range extends from

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologic ...

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

, eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and some parts of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. ''

Citriobatus ''Pittosporum'' ( or ) 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. ' ...

'' can be included here, but might be a distinct (though closely related) genus.The Plant List: ''Citriobatus'' (retrieved 20/11/2017)
/ref> They are commonly known as pittosporums or, more ambiguously, cheesewoods. The species are

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

s growing to 2–30 m tall. The

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

are spirally arranged or whorled, simple, with an entire or waved (rarely lobed) margin. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

s are produced singly or in

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s or

corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial ...

s, each flower with five sepals and five petals; they are often sweetly scented. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

is a woody seed capsule, which bursts on ripening to release the numerous

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

s. The seeds are coated with a sticky

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on nat ...

ous substance. The genus is named after their sticky seeds, from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

meaning "pitch-seed". Tarata (''P. eugenioides'') and kohuhu (''P. tenuifolium'') – both from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

– and the Japanese cheesewood (''P. tobira'') from southern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

are widely cultivated as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

s in

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...

regions; pittosporums can also be grown indoors as

bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of '' penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produc ...

. The petroleum nut (''P. resiniferum'') yields petroleum nut oil, which is sometimes proposed as

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration ...

; due to its excessive ''n''-

heptane Heptane or ''n''-heptane is the straight-chain alkane with the chemical formula H3C(CH2)5CH3 or C7H16. When used as a test fuel component in anti-knock test engines, a 100% heptane fuel is the zero point of the octane rating scale (the 100 poin ...

content and consequent low

octane rating An octane rating, or octane number, is a standard measure of a fuel's ability to withstand compression in an internal combustion engine without detonating. The higher the octane number, the more compression the fuel can withstand before detonatin ...

, it is better suited as a source of ''n''-heptane, which is otherwise produced from

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

. Many

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

s detest the resinous pittosporums, in particular their seeds, which will stick anywhere. But some animals eat them with relish, for example the kea (''Nestor notabilis''), which likes '' P. anomalum'' fruit and seeds. The

cottony cushion scale ''Icerya purchasi'' (common name: cottony cushion scale) is a scale insect that feeds on more than 80 families of woody plants, most notably on ''Citrus'' and ''Pittosporum''. Originally described in 1878 from specimens collected in New Zealand a ...

(''Icerya purchasi'') is a common pest on ornamental pittosporums (in particular the New Zealand species); the

sac fungus Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The de ...

Nectriella pironii Nectriella pironii is a plant pathogen, that parasitizes '' Aphelandra squarrosa, Clerodendron bungei, Codiaeum variegatum, Jussiaea peruviana, Leucophyllum frutescens, Pittosporum tobria, Plumbago capensis, Chrysanthemum morifolium'' and ''P ...

'' often infects Japanese cheesewood.

Selected species

* '' Pittosporum aliferum'' Tirel & Veillon * '' Pittosporum angustifolium'' * ''

Pittosporum anomalum ''Pittosporum'' ( or ) 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. '' Ci ...

'' Laing & Gourlay * '' Pittosporum arborescens'' Rich. ex A. Gray * '' Pittosporum argentifolium'' Sherff – hōawa * '' Pittosporum artense'' Guillaumin * '' Pittosporum bicolor'' * '' Pittosporum bracteolatum'' * '' Pittosporum brevispinum'' * '' Pittosporum ceylanicum'' * ''

Pittosporum collinum ''Pittosporum collinum'' is a species of plant in the Pittosporaceae Pittosporaceae is a family of flowering plants that consists of 200–240 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in 9 genera. Habitats range from tropical to temperate climate ...

'' * ''

Pittosporum confertiflorum ''Pittosporum'' ( or ) 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. ''Cit ...

'' A.Gray – hōawa (

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

) * ''

Pittosporum coriaceum ''Pittosporum coriaceum'' is a species of plant in the Pittosporaceae family. It is endemic to Macaronesia, and due to extinction in the Canary Islands, it is now restricted to the Portuguese Madeira Islands. ''Pittosporum coriaceum'' is a Cri ...

'' * '' Pittosporum cornifolium'' – tāwhiri karo * '' Pittosporum crassifolium'' – karo * '' Pittosporum dallii'' * '' Pittosporum daphniphylloides'' * '' Pittosporum dasycaulon'' * '' Pittosporum divaricatum'' * '' Pittosporum ellipticum'' ** ''Pittosporum ellipticum'' subsp. ''serpentinum'' * '' Pittosporum eriocarpum'' * '' Pittosporum erioloma'' * ''

Pittosporum eugenioides ''Pittosporum eugenioides'', common names lemonwood or tarata, is a species of New Zealand native evergreen tree. Growing to tall by broad, it is conical when young but more rounded in shape when mature. Its leaves are mottled yellow-green wit ...

'' A. Cunn. – tarata, lemonwood (

) * '' Pittosporum fairchildii'' * '' Pittosporum ferrugineum'' * '' Pittosporum gatopense'' * '' Pittosporum glabrum'' – hōawa * '' Pittosporum goetzei'' * '' Pittosporum gomonenense'' * ''

Pittosporum heterophyllum ''Pittosporum heterophyllum'', commonly known as Chinese Pittosporum, is a species of plant in the genus ''Pittosporum''. Native to China and Tibet, it is a broadleaf evergreen shrub that grows to a maximum of tall. It has long been grown in gard ...

'' * ''

Pittosporum illicioides ''Pittosporum'' ( or ) 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. '' Ci ...

'' * '' Pittosporum kirkii'' – Kirk's pittosporum, Kirk's kōhūhū, thick-leaved kohukohu * '' Pittosporum lancifolium'' * '' Pittosporum ligustrifolium'' * ''

Pittosporum linearifolium ''Pittosporum linearifolium'' is a species of plant in the family Pittosporaceae. It is a tree which grows up to 8 metres tall. It is endemic to Borneo where it is confined to Sabah. ''Pittosporum linearifolium'' is known only from Bukit Hamp ...

'' * '' Pittosporum mackeei'' Tirel & Veillon ( Ponérihouen area of

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) * '' Pittosporum moluccanum'' * '' Pittosporum multiflorum'' * '' Pittosporum muricatum'' * '' Pittosporum napaliense'' * '' Pittosporum nativitatis'' * '' Pittosporum obcordatum'' – heart-leaved kohuhu * '' Pittosporum oreillyanum'' – O'Reilly's pittosporum * '' Pittosporum ornatum'' * '' Pittosporum orohenense'' * '' Pittosporum paniense'' * '' Pittosporum parvifolium'' * ''

Pittosporum patulum ''Pittosporum patulum'' is a plant species endemic to New Zealand where it has a restricted distribution in the South Island - ranging from Nelson in the north with occurrences in inland Marlborough down to Wanaka in the south. It is unusual a ...

'' * '' Pittosporum pauciflorum'' * '' Pittosporum pentandrum'' * '' Pittosporum phillyreoides'' – weeping pittosporum, willow pittosporum, butterbush, native apricot * '' Pittosporum pickeringii'' * '' Pittosporum raivavaeense'' * '' Pittosporum rapense'' * '' Pittosporum rarotongense'' * '' Pittosporum resiniferum'' – petroleum nut * '' Pittosporum revolutum'' – rough-fruited pittosporum, wild yellow jasmine, yellow pittosporum, Brisbane laurel * ''

Pittosporum rhombifolium ''Auranticarpa rhombifolia'' is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. Known as the diamond leaf pittosporum, this tree is planted in many parts of Australia as an ornamental. The white flowers and orange fruit make it a most appealing street ...

'' (now ''Auranticarpa rhombifolia'') – Queensland pittosporum, diamond pittosporum, Hollywood * '' Pittosporum rhytidocarpum'' * '' Pittosporum rubiginosum'' * '' Pittosporum senacia'' * '' Pittosporum silamense'' * '' Pittosporum spinescens'' * '' Pittosporum stenophyllum'' * '' Pittosporum taitense'' * ''

Pittosporum tanianum ''Pittosporum tanianum'' is a species of plant in the Pittosporaceae family. It is endemic to New Caledonia. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habit ...

'' * ''

Pittosporum tenuifolium ''Pittosporum tenuifolium'' is a small evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand – up to – commonly known as and black matipo, and by other Māori names and . Its small, very dark, reddish-purple flowers generally go unnoticed, and are scented ...

'' – kōhūhū, kohukohu, black matipo (

) * '' Pittosporum terminalioides'' * ''

Pittosporum tobira ''Pittosporum tobira'' is a species of sweet-smelling flowering plant in the pittosporum family Pittosporaceae known by several common names, including Australian laurel, Japanese pittosporum, mock orange and Japanese cheesewood. It is native to ...

'' (Murray) Aiton fil. – Japanese cheesewood, Japanese mock orange (

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

) * '' Pittosporum trilobum'' * ''

Pittosporum turneri ''Pittosporum turneri'', commonly called Turner's kohuhu or the tent pole tree, is a species of plant in the Pittosporaceae family. It is endemic to New Zealand. ''P. turneri'' was first described by Donald Petrie Donald Mark Petrie (born A ...

'' * ''

Pittosporum undulatum ''Pittosporum undulatum'' is a fast-growing tree in the family Pittosporaceae. It is sometimes also known as sweet pittosporum, native daphne, Australian cheesewood, Victorian box or mock orange. ''P. undulatum'' has become invasive in parts ...

'' – sweet pittosporum, Australian cheesewood, native daphne, mock orange (east coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

) * '' Pittosporum venulosum'' F.Muell. * '' Pittosporum virgatum'' * '' Pittosporum viridulatum'' * '' Pittosporum viridiflorum'' * '' Pittosporum viscidum'' * '' Pittosporum wingii'' * '' Pittosporum yunckeri'' A.C.Sm.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q158896 Apiales genera Taxa named by Allan Cunningham (botanist)