Pittosporum cornifolium
Common names
tāwhiri karo
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Shrub often growing on other trees with whorls of thin twigs bearing whorls of 3-5 oval pointed leaves and reddish flowers on long stalks. Leaves 3.5-7.5cm long. Fruit a capsule, 1.5cm wide, splitting into two to display black seeds in an orange pith.
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Yellow
Detailed description
Sparingly branched, 1–4 m tall shrubs, epiphytic or terrestrial. Leaves mostly inserted whorled at nodes. Lamina elliptic, 20–100 x 10–50 mm, almost sessile, petioles 2–3 mm long and wide; margins flat, apices just acute; venation on adaxial obscure with a flat midrib, abaxial with about 8 veins at an acute angle, reticulate/obscure. Inflorescences pseudo-terminal, 3–5 flowered umbels (male) 1–3 smaller flowers (female), pedicels from 2 mm (female)–15 mm long (male); subtended by foliose bracts in a basal involucre; buds mauve/purple, pointed and furled in distal third Sepals cream-green, very narrow triangular/acuminate, 4–7 mm long, cohering basally then free; subulate with sparse hairs on margins only. Petals bicoloured or not: outer surface mauve, pink, orange or yellow , inner surface cream/yellow; 8–12 mm long, apically acuminate, cohering in a tube at anthesis then recurving by half, almost fully exposing anthers in male flowers. Male flowers with anthers oblong, slightly apiculate; pistil reduced/narrowed. Female flowers with staminodes not beyond the turgid ovary, style slender about the same length as the ovary, stigma lobed/capitate. Fruits orange-brown, mainly bi- or less frequently tri-valved; ovoid, 15–17 mm x 12–15 mm wide; valves fairly thick (1–2 mm), silky hairy, becoming slightly rugulose with transverse ridging, reflexing totally; inner chambers bright orange-red, rugulose; placentas raised triangular at the bases; funicles orange, strappy, 5 mm long, inserted base to middle. Seeds black, 4 (–10); 3.0–6.5 mm diameter or long; rounded, angular, glossy, pellucid
Similar taxa
None.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: Three Kings, North and northern South Island.
Habitat
Sea level to about 800 m a.s.l. Usually epiphytic in dense forest but also common as a rupestral on cliffs and rocky ground.
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: CD, DPS, DPT, PF
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Taxonomic notes
Pittosporum roimata Gemmill & S.N.Carter was segregated from P. cornifolium by Carter et al. (2018) as a Poor Knights Islands endemic. The new species was distinguished by its allopatry, a one base pair mutation (nrDNA ITS sequence), larger, wider leaves, shorter petioles and yellow flowers. However, such morphological characters also occur throughout the northern range of Pittosporum cornifolium and the sequence difference was not published and needs further testing. Furthermore, flower colour is variable in most New Zealand Pittosporum, and yellow flowers are not exclusive to P. roimata, they are also found in P. cornifolium. For these reasons P. roimata is included here within the concept of P. cornifolium adopted by Cooper (1956).
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
June to September
Fruiting
Throughout the year but especially between May - August
Other information
Etymology
pittosporum: Pitch seed
cornifolium: Cornel-leafed
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PITCOR
Chromosome number
2n = 24
Previous conservation statuses
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Carter, S. N.; Miller, S.; Meyer, S. J.; Gemmill, C. E. C. 2018: A new species of Pittosporum described from the Poor Knights Islands, Northland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Systematic Botany 43: 663-643
Cooper, R.C. 1956: The Australian and New Zealand species of Pittosporum. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 43: 87–188.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 July 2024. Description from live plants and herbarium specimens.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Pittosporum cornifolium Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/pittosporum-cornifolium/ (Date website was queried)