Pittosporum tobira
Common name: 
Japanese Mock Orange
Mock Orange
Tobira
Japanese Pittosporum
Pronunciation: 
pi-TOS-po-rum to-BI-ra
Family: 
Rhamnaceae
Genus: 
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Evergreen shrub or small tree, dense, erect habit and rounded, to about 15 ft (5 m) tall, similar width.  Leaves alternate, simple, obovate, 3-10 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, leathery and tough, base wedge-shaped, apex rounded, margin revolute (turned under), dark green and glossy above, midrib pale.  Flowers cream-white becoming yellow, about 2.5 cm wide, fragrant (orange blossom), several in terminal clusters, blooms heavily.  Fruit a capsule, pear shaped, about 13 mm across, green then brown.
  • Sun to part shade.  Not fussy about soil type as long as its well-drained.  Tolerates pruning, good as a screen or hedge, very tolerant of maritime conditions.  Heavily used in the southern US and southern Europe.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 8   Native to China and Japan 
  • Several cultivar are listed, including:
    • Cream de Mint™  (‘Shima’)  -  glossy mint green leaves with cream-white edges, slow growing to 2-2.5 ft high and wide, compact.
    • Turners Pitt™  (‘Turners Variegated Dwarf’)  -  dwarf, compact, spreading, leaves with creamy variegated edges, to 30 inches (75 cm) tall and 2-3 ft (0.6-0.9 m) wide.
    • ‘Variegata’  -  gray-green leaves with irregular cream-white margins, small fragrant flowers, to 5-10 ft (1.5-3 m) high and wide.
    • ‘Wheeler's Dwarf’  -  dwarf habit, 2-3 ft high and 4-5 ft wide, mounding, compact, leaves somewhat smaller, dark green.
  • tobira: native name
  • Oregon State Univ. campus: west side of Gilfillan Auditorium, in small courtyard.
Click image to enlarge
  • plant habit

    plant habit

  • shoot tip, leaves

    shoot tip, leaves

  • leaves

    leaves

  • plant habit, flowering

    plant habit, flowering

  • leaves and flower clusters

    leaves and flower clusters

  • flower cluster

    flower cluster

  • plant habit, fruiting

    plant habit, fruiting

  • leaves and fruit

    leaves and fruit