Pittosporum is an evergreen shrub or small tree, which is two to six meters high and has a spherical crown. Simple leaf, leathery, obovate, 5- 12 cm long, rounded at the top, wedge-shaped at the base, often curved all over, and dark green and smooth on the surface.
Flowers bisexual, terminal corymb. The flowers are white or light yellow-green, about 1 cm in diameter, fragrant, and usually bloom in May.
Capsule oval, about 1 cm long, angular, trifoliate when mature, bright red seeds, 10 month mature fruit.
Pittosporum flowers are naturally distributed in the south of the Yangtze River in China, and are often cultivated in the open field in the south, but they cannot overwinter in the open field in the north.
The growth characteristics of Pittosporum fortunei, a light-loving tree species, are slightly shade-tolerant; I like warm and humid climate and fertile and humid soil, and my cold tolerance is not strong. Strong branching ability and pruning resistance. It has strong resistance to harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide. Seeding and cutting propagation are usually used. Sowing and propagation: the seeds are harvested when the fruits are ripe and cracked in 10, and the surface of the seeds is sticky. Plant ash can be used to seed immediately after seed dressing, and then covered with grass to prevent cold, and seedlings can emerge in the next year. You can also sow in spring and emerge two months later. The annual seedling height is about15cm, and the biennial seedling height is more than 30cm. Seedlings of four or five years old can be planted in the nursery. It is easy to cultivate and does not need special management. But it is vulnerable to scale insects, so attention should be paid to prevention and control.
Pittosporum has three main uses:
First, it is a good ornamental tree species. Pittosporum has dense branches and leaves, dark green and shiny leaves, evergreen seasons, white and fragrant flowers, yellow fruit surface, and beautiful red seeds when ripe and cracked. It is an excellent shrub for ornamental leaves, flowers and fruits. Suitable for foundation planting and hedgerow trees,
It can also be used for tree ball modeling and viewing;
Single planting, row planting and cluster planting can be used. In the north, most of them are potted plants.
Second, medicinal plants with development prospects. According to relevant research, its roots, branches and leaves, seeds and fruits can all be used as medicine. Branches and leaves have hemostatic, detoxifying and antibacterial effects; Roots have the effects of expelling wind and activating collaterals, removing blood stasis and relieving pain; Seeds have the function of convergence and sperm fixation. It has been proved by scientific research that the seeds and peels contain phenols, polysaccharides, saccharides, tannins, glycosides, saponins, steroids, flavonoids, coumarins, lactones, amino acids, peptides and protein. Flowers contain benzyl acetate and other 19 components. Roots and leaves contain five sesquiterpene glycosides, such as Erythrina. Fruit contains triterpenoid lactone saponins and other bioactive components. Therefore, Pittosporum is a kind of plant with the prospect of medicinal development and utilization.
Third, the wood of Pittosporum can be used to make gadgets. Leaves can be used for dyeing instead of alum.