Pittosporum

pittosporum

Any of various evergreen shrubs or trees, mainly from Australia and New Zealand, that make up the genus Pittosporum (family Pittosporaceae), commonly known as Australian laurel. They are planted especially as ornamentals in warm regions. The most popular and hardiest species, called tobira, or house-blooming mock orange (P. tobira), is native to China and Japan; it is a popular fragrant hedge plant in warm climates and a handsome indoor plant elsewhere.

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Pittosporum 

a genus of plants of the family Pittospora-ceae. The plants are small trees or shrubs (often climbing shrubs) with shiny and leathery simple leaves. The fragrant, pentamerous flowers are solitary or gathered into umbellate corymbs or panicles. The fruit is a capsule whose sticky contents enclose the seeds. There are as many as 200 species, distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Species are also encountered on the island of Madeira and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Some species of Pittosporum are grown as ornamentals in gardens, parks, greenhouses, and apartments. P. tobira, an evergreen shrub with very aromatic, waxy flowers, is cultivated in the countries of the Mediterranean region. In the USSR the species is found along the southern coast of the Crimea and in the Caucasus. A number of species, including P. heterophyllum and P. eugenioides, are grown along the Black Sea shore of the Caucasus.

REFERENCE

Derev’ia i kustarniki SSSR, vol. 3. Moscow-Leningrad, 1954.