Cheesewood (Pittosporum halophilum)
Description
Pittosporum halophilum is a shrub that grows to 1.75 m tall with gray-brown stems. New growth of leaves and stems often appear reddish brown to brown on account of the hairs present on these surfaces. The leaves are alternately arranged but are typically densely clustered at the ends of the branches. The leaves are quite thick and wrinkled in appearance, they are widest above the midpoint of the leaves, and are 7-30 cm long and 3-11 cm wide. The underside of the leaves is covered with long, golden to silver hairs. The flowers of this species can be either bisexual or unisexual, but if unisexual the staminate (pollen producing) and pistillate (ovule producing) flowers are produced on different plants. The white flowers are produced in clusters of 5-14. The sepals that make up the calyx (a whorl external to the petals) are lance-shaped and are covered with dense brown hairs. The white petals are 13-23 mm long and do not open widely forming a bell-shaped flower. The fruit is a dry capsule and is quite large growing to 2.0-3.5 cm long. The outer surface of the fruit is wrinkled in appearance and is covered with dense brown to reddish hairs. The fruit splits open at maturity to reveal 30-50 black to brown, angled seeds that are 4-8mm long.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Apiales
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Family: Pittosporaceae
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Genus: Pittosporum
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