Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Apiales Nakai
Family
Pittosporaceae R.Br.
Genus
Pittosporum Banks & Sol. ex Gaertn.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Pittosporum cornifolium A.Cunn. in Hooker, Bot. Mag. 59, t. 3161 (1832)
Synonymy:
see James & de Lange 2024
  • = Pittosporum roimata Gemmill & S.N.Carter in Carter et al., Syst. Bot. 43: 636-641 (2018)
TYPE: NEW ZEALAND, North Island, Poor Knights Islands, Tawhiti Rahi. Beneath pohutakawa forest on summit plateau. Terrestrial, flowers yellow. 9 Sept. 1980 A. E. Wright 3951 (holotype: AK 155344).
Vernacular Name(s):
Karo; Perching kohukohu; Tāwhirikaro; Wharewhareatua
 Description

Openly branched shrub up to 2 m. tall, us. less, mainly epiphytic or on rocks, branchlets often subwhorled, ± pubescent when young. Lvs mostly in whorls of 3–5, thinly coriac., lamina 3·5–7·5 X 1·5–3·5 cm., on very short petioles or subsessile; obovate-cuneate to obovate-elliptic or subrhomboidal, acute. Fls functionally polygamodioec., in terminal umbels of 3–5; ♀ us. not > 3. Sepals subulate to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, c. 4·5 mm. long; petals subulate, acuminate, c. 1 cm. long, light red or yellowish. Capsules c. 1·5 cm. diam., broadly ovoid to obovoid, 2–3-valved; valves woody, finely granulate, us. bright orange-yellow within, twisting when open.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Jun.–Sep.; Fruiting: Oct.–Mar.

 Bibliography
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(2): 633–643.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Hooker, W.J (ed.) 1832: Curtis's Botanical Magazine or flower garden displayed, in which the most ornamental foreign plants cultivated in the open ground, green-house, and the stove, are accurately represented and coloured. Vol. 59. London.
James, C.J.; de Lange, P.J. 2024: A taxonomic re-evaluation of Pittosporum roimata Gemmill & S.N. Carter (Pittosporaceae, Apiales). Ukrainian Botanical Journal 81(5): 307–321.