Pittosporum pullifolium

Burkill

Pittosporaceae Edible: Seeds

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Wikimedia Commons - R. O. Gardner

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President and Fellows of Harvard College

Description

A small tree or shrub 1-5 m high. The tree type and leaf shape vary with altitude. Young shoots are yellowish brown and softly hairy. Leaves are stiff leathery and oval. Often the edges of the leaf bend backwards. Flowers are large and on the ends of branches. Inside the capsule there are many irregular flattened seeds.

Edible Uses

The seeds are eaten; they have a resinous coating.

Traditional Uses

The seeds are eaten. They contain a resinous coating.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

A tropical plant. It grows in rainforest from 1200 m to 3700 m altitude.

Where It Grows

Asia, Indonesia, Pacific, Papua New Guinea, PNG, SE Asia, Solomon Islands,

Cultivation

It can be grown from seeds or cuttings. They tend to grow as epiphytes attached to other plans.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 5 - 7cm with a heel. Basal ripewood cuttings in a cold frame.

Other Uses

A dye is obtained from the seed. The seeds are coated by a resinous, viscid, dark reddish fluid.

Notes

There are about 200 Pittosporum species.

References (8)

Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1899:96. 1899
French, B.R., 1986, Food Plants of Papua New Guinea, A Compendium. Asia Pacific Science Foundation p 377
Gillison, 1970,
Kalkman, 1970,
Powell, J.M., Ethnobotany. In Paijmans, K., 1976, New Guinea Vegetation. Australian National University Press. p 111

Show all 8 references

Vink, 1970,
Walter, A. & Sam C., 2002, Fruits of Oceania. ACIAR Monograph No. 85. Canberra. p 224, 281
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew