Native to New Zealand (and Australia, Asia, and Africa). Flowers are sweetly scented and seeds are coated with a sticky substance giving the plant its name, pitch-seed.
All plants below can be seen growing in the New Zealand Forest in the Pacific Connections Garden.

1)   Pittosporum eugenioides               Lemonwood

• New Zealand’s tallest Pittosporum, P. eugenioides can reach 40 feet.
• Its yellow-green leaves with curly edges have a strong scent of lemon when crushed.

2)   Pittosporum divaricatum

• Divaricating (stretched or spread apart) branching patterns and small juvenile foliage protect this plant from beaked predators.
• As the plant gains height, adult foliage emerges safe from predation.

3)   Pittosporum patulum               Pitpat

• Endemic to the South Island of New Zealand.
• Pitpat has been on the IUCN Red List as endangered since 1999.
• IUCN stands for:  International Union for Conservation of Nature.

4)   Pittosporum ralphii               Ralph’s Kohuhu

• Thick leathery, undulating leaves sport dense white tomentum on the underside.
• Hermaphroditic flowers give way to orange-yellow seed capsules and black seeds.

5)   Pittosporum tenuifolium               ‘Tom Thumb’

• This purple-leaved cultivar of P. tenuifolium is a dense, slow-growing evergreen shrub with a rounded habit.
• You can find this plant in the newly-renovated courtyard of the Graham Visitor Center.