Pittosporum undulatum Vent., Pittosporaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 10 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Australian cheesewood, cheesewood, mock orange, orange-berry pittosporum, sweet pittosporum, Victorian box, Victorian laurel

Habit:  tree

Description:  "A slender-branched shrub or tree, rarely becoming 16 feet or more high (although it may be 40 feet in its native country), with smooth, gray bark.  Leaves alternate, often crowded at ends of slender, light brown branches, 3.5 to 5 inches long, lanceolate, pointed at both ends, shiny, with prominently wavy margins.  Flowers almost white, few, fragrant, borne on the youngest branches in terminal clusters about 1 inch long; petals 5, abruptly bent downward at end.  Fruit globe-shaped, compressed, usually 5/8 inch long, leathery, about 25-seeded.  Seeds angular, 1/8 inch long and 1/32 inch thick, dark brown, smooth"  (Haselwood, 1966; p. 168).

Habitat/ecology:  "Forests, grass- and heathland, riparian habitats, coastal dunes and scrub.  This tree is a successful gap colonizer and eliminates native vegetation by the low and dense canopies, shading out almost all other species.  The tree produces large quantities of sticky seeds that are dispersed by birds and mammals.  Gaps are quickly colonized and seedlings form a dense ground cover.  The nutrient rich litter leads to an increase of soil fertility levels.  The tree resprouts vigorously after damage"  (Weber, 2002; p. 333).

In Hawai‘i, "cultivated and now naturalized in disturbed mesic forest, 500-1,200 m"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1048).

Propagation:  Seed, often dispersed by birds.

Native range:  Australia.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced	Pickard, J. (1984) (p. 207)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 20) "Introduced and escaped from cultivation". Vouchers cited: P.S. Green 2032 (K), J. Pickard 3330 (NSW), L.A.S. Johnson & A.N. Rodd 1205 (NSW)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 10) "Introduced and escaped from cultivation". Vouchers cited: G. Uhe 1157 (K), G. Uhe 1181 (K), B.A. Somers 14 (CHR), H.C.Quintall (CHR)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive cultivated	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 87)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1048)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1048)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘ihale Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1048)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2006) (p. 38) East Maui. Vouchers cited: Starr & Starr 040827-1 (BISH), Starr & Starr 050216-1 (BISH)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	introduced invasive	Weber, Ewald (2003) (p. 333)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	uncertain if native cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 942) Possibly introduced by birds from Australia or Norfolk Island. Also sparingly cultivated in gardens.

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Canary Islands Canary Islands	Canary Islands	introduced	Weber, Ewald (2003) (p. 333)

Comments:  On French Polynesia exclusion list.

Control: 

Physical:  "Seedlings area easy to hand pull.  Small trees are cut, larger trees cut or girdled, often in combination with herbicide treatment"  (Weber, 2003; p. 333).

Chemical: Application of 2,4,5-T and diesel mixture to stumps cut just above ground level prevents coppicing (Cronk & Fuller, 2001; p. 107-111).  "Effective herbicides are 2,4,5-T, picloram plus 2,4-D, or glyphosate.  Follow-up programmes are necessary to treat regrowth and emerging seedlings"  (Weber, 2003; p. 333).

Additional information:
At the Woody Plant Ecology web site.
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.

Additional online information about Pittosporum undulatum is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Pittosporum undulatum as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Pittosporum undulatum may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Cronk, Q. C. B./Fuller, J. L. 2001. Plant invaders. Earthscan Publications, Ltd., London. 241 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1979. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian dicotyledonae. Micronesica 15:1-295.

Goodland, T./Healey, J. R. 1996. The invasion of Jamaican montane rainforests by the Australian tree Pittosporum undulatum. School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, U.K. 55 pp.

Goodland, T./Healey, J. R. 1997. The control of the Australian tree Pittosporum undulatum in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, U.K. 27 pp.

Goodland, T./Healey, J. R. 1997. The effect of Pittosporum undulatum on the native vegetation of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, U.K. 41 pp.

Haselwood, E. L./Motter, G. G. 1983. Handbook of Hawaiian Weeds. Second edition, revised and expanded by Robert T. Hirano. University of Hawaii Press. 491 pp.

Orchard, Anthony E., ed. 1994. Flora of Australia. Vol. 49, Oceanic islands 1. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Pickard, J. 1984. Exotic plants on Lord Howe Island: Distribution in space and time, 1853-1981. J. of Biogeography 11:181-208.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2006. New plant records from the Hawaiian Archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2004-2005. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 87:31-43.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.