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Pittosporum tobira

Common name:	Tobira	Family:	Pittosporaceae
Author:	(Thunb.)W.T.Aiton.	Botanical references:	200, 266
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	This plant contains saponins[152, 154]. Saponins are found in many foods, such as some beans, and although they are fairly toxic to people they are poorly absorbed by the body and most pass straight through without any problem. They are also broken down if the food is thoroughly cooked for a long time. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish[K].
Range:	E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea.
Habitat:	Rocky hillsides by the coast[184].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Euonymus tobira[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Japanese Cheesewood [B,P],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Rosales. Pittosporum family

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen shrub growing to 6m by 4m . It is hardy to zone 8. It is in leaf all year, in flower from April to May. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Hedge, Woodland, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Hedge; Shelterbelt.

Very tolerant of pruning and maritime exposure, it can be grown as a wind resistant hedge. It can be used in shelterbelt plantings[200].

Cultivation details

Succeeds in most well-drained soils of reasonably good quality in full sun or light shade[200]. Succeeds in dry soils[200]. Very resistant to maritime exposure[184]. Established plants are drought resistant[182].
Hardy to about -10°c[184], succeeding outdoors on the coast of S. England and in London[184]. Plants can be up to 10m tall in their native habitat but rarely exceed 2m in Britain.
There are some named forms, selected for their ornamental value[200]. The flowers are very fragrant, with a scent reminiscent of orange blossom[219] and can pervade the air for a considerable distance[245].
Very amenable to pruning, plants can be cut right back into old wood if required[200].
The species in this genus are very likely to hybridize with other members of the genus[200]. When growing a species from seed it is important to ensure that the seed either comes from a known wild source, or from isolated specimens in cultivation.
Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus[200].

Propagation

Seed - sow when ripe in the autumn or in late winter in a warm greenhouse[78, 200]. The seed usually germinates freely. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle, move the plants to a cold frame as soon as they are established and plant out late in the following spring[78]. Consider giving them some protection from the cold during their first winter outdoors.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 5 - 7cm with a heel, July/August in a frame. Poor to fair percentage[78].
Basal ripewood cuttings late autumn in a cold frame[200].

Scent

Flowers: Fresh: The flowers are very fragrant, with a scent reminiscent of orange blossom. They can pervade the air for a considerable distance[245].

Cultivars

'': There are some named forms for this species, but these have been developed for their ornamental value and not for their other uses. Unless you particularly require the special characteristics of any of these cultivars, we would generally recommend that you grow the natural species for its useful properties. We have, therefore, not listed the cultivars in this database[K].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Pittosporaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[78] Sheat. W. G. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. MacMillan and Co 1948
A bit dated but a good book on propagation techniques with specific details for a wide range of plants.

[152] Lassak. E. V. and McCarthy. T. Australian Medicinal Plants.
A very good and readable guide to the subject.

[154] Ewart. A. J. Flora of Victoria.
A flora of eastern Australia, it is rather short on information that is useful to the plant project.

[182] Thomas. G. S. Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos. Murray 1992 ISBN 0-7195-5043-2
Contains a wide range of plants with a brief description, mainly of their ornamental value but also usually of cultivation details and varieties.

[184] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Shrubs. Pan Books 1989 ISBN 0-330-30258-2
Excellent photographs and a terse description of 1900 species and cultivars.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[219] Grey-Wilson. C. & Matthews. V. Gardening on Walls Collins 1983 ISBN 0-00-219220-0
A nice little book about plants for growing against walls and a small section on plants that can grow in walls.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[266] Flora of China 1994
On-line version of the Flora - an excellent resource giving basic info on habitat and some uses.

Readers Comments

Pittosporum tobira

david Nicholls (davidni@xtra.co) Mon Jul 31 22:59:47 2000

The book "new zealand medicinal plants"(Brooker,cambie,cooper 1991 Reed) breifly notes a study (van der berghe, D.A"Sreening of higher plants for biological activities" Lloydia 41:463-71(CA 1978, 89;204192) in which P.tobira ranks strongly for anti-viral activity.

I've been unable to find any more recent uses or studies following from this, would be very interesting to know. For something so recent the uses may be patented I suppose.

Pittosporum tobira

david nicholls (davidni@xtra.co.nz) Sun Oct 15 14:44:00 2000

P tobira Murdoch Riley notes the bark is( or was) used in China for toothache rheumatism and dysentery. Ref: p441Maori Healing and Herbal 1994 viking sevenseas ltd

Pittosporum tobira

david (davidni@xtra.co.nz) Sat Nov 4 02:31:35 2000

PS Disclaimer:(obviously!) I cant recommend this as safe or effective, the authors above say the same

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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