Pittosporum viridiflorum Sims, Pittosporaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 7 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: cape cheesewood, cape pittosporum

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Small trees 3-6 m tall, young parts and inflorescences sparsely puberulent; branches glabrous.  Leaves leathery, 6-15 cm long, 2.2-4 cm wide, glabrous, margins minutely revolute, apex bluntly acuminate to rounded, base attenuate, petioles 0.6-1.5 cm long.  Flowers perfect, numerous in terminal, branched, corymbose inflorescences, peduncles 0-8 mm long, pedicels slender, 5-7 mm long; sepals elliptic, ca. 1.5 mm long, margins scarious; petals yellowish green, 5-6 mm long, margins slightly revolute and erose; ovary 2-carpellate.  Capsules depressed-subglobose, slightly compressed, 4-5 mm long, the valves with thin exocarp, the surface minutely rugulose.  Seeds 4-6, reddish black, subreniform, somewhat compressed, ca. 3.5-4 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1048).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "cultivated and sparingly naturalized at ca. 1,000 m"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1048).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  South Africa

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1048) Voucher cited: Clay s. n. (BISH)
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	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (1999) (p. 14) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Martz 980506-135 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced	Wester, Lyndon (1992) (p. 146)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Frohlich, Danielle/Lau, Alex (2012) (pp. 43-44) Voucher cited: D. Frohlich & A. Lau 2011040701 (BISH)

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

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

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

References:

Frohlich, Danielle/Lau, Alex. 2012. New plant records for the Hawaiian Islands 2010-2011. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2011. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 113:27-54.

Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 1999. New plant records from East Maui for 1998. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1998. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 59:11-15.

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).

Wester, Lyndon. 1992. Origin and distribution of adventive flowering plants in Hawai‘i. In: Stone, Charles P.; Smith, Clifford W. and Tunison, J. Timothy. Alien plant invasions in native ecosystems of Hawaii: Management and Research. University of Hawaii, Cooperative National Park Research Studies Unit, Honolulu. University of Hawaii Press. .