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Friday, November 28, 2014

Pittosporum tenuifolia - Kohuhu

Seems most of the pittosporums are better suited to be hedges, and this one is no different. They are trees however, often seen growing out of an unpruned hedge. Small to medium evergreen tree, upright habit often narrowly, growing quickly to 20-25'. There are more dwarf variegated varieties of this species than all the other pittosporums together. 



Here they are as a hedge.



Leaves are evergreen, simple, alternate, oblong to elliptical, glossy, slightly undulated, clustered at the tips of the branches.





Flowers are dark red to purple black colored, in tight clusters of 10-15, very attractive if you stop to look, but most people will not. Seems the plants are males, females or hermaphrodites. Never knew that. 



Fruit is a small capsule with dark seeds covered with a sticky coating.



Stems are almost black (it is sometimes called P. nigricans). Buds small and clustered at the tips, laterals very small.





Identification:
Not hard to get to the species, but don't ask me to identify all the dwarfs.

Here is a link to an article on the cultivars growing in the UK.

Location:
Santa Cruz
220 Oceanview Ave - picture of the hedge.