A BUD VARIATION OF PITTOSPORUM 



A. D. Sham EL, Riverside, California 



ONE of the most attractive and 

 ornamental hedge plants grown 

 in the vicinity of the writer's 

 home at Riverside, Cal., is Pitto- 

 spomm tobira var. variegatttm, Ait. 

 In addition to its use for hedges, it is 

 occasionally found planted in gardens 

 and lawns or along the roadsides as 

 individual shrubs or trees and in tubs 

 for house plants. Many visitors to 

 this section of southern California from 

 New England, and other places where 

 the variegated pittosporum is a favorite 

 house plant, remark upon the size and 

 beauty of the plants when grown in the 

 open in this sub-tropical climate. The 

 plants frequently grow to 6 or 8 feet in 

 height in this locality. The fully devel- 

 oped leaves are, on the average, about 

 three inches long and about one and one- 

 half inches wide. The leaves are entire 

 and permanent, obovate in shape, and 

 usually very obtuse. They narrow to 

 a short petiole. The leaves are arranged 

 in apparent whorls. The glabrous ma- 

 ture leaves are thick and have a leathery 

 texture. Their color is usually light 

 green and slightly paler beneath while 

 the margins are revolute and are white 

 or silver in color. The white areas are 

 of irregular shape and size. The mass 

 effect of the white margined leaves is 

 highly ornamental and the individual 

 shrubs make a beautiful showing during 

 the entire year in this reigon. 



The plants usually bloom here in the 

 Spring and were in full bloom in 1917 

 during the last of April and early May. 

 The flowers are usually light yellow 

 in color and are arranged in terminal 

 umbels. The calyx is made up of five 

 sepals and the corolla of five petals. 

 The tips of the petals are recurved. 

 There is usually one style and one 

 stigma. The capsules are very hairy, 

 ovate, and the valves are made up of a 

 resinous pulp. The flowers from a 

 distance somewhat resemble orange 

 blossoms in appearance and are rather 

 fragrant. This variety rarely sets seeds 



here, if at all, and is usually, if not 

 always, propagated from cuttings of 

 partly ripened wood. 



The variegated pittosporum is fre- 

 quently subject to striking bud varia- 

 tions, as shown in Fig. 11. From this 

 standpoint it is of very great interest 

 to the writer. From the observation of 

 many individual plants I have failed to 

 find one, as yet, which does not show 

 one or more branches of the green - 

 leaved original. Most plants examined 

 have been found to possess several such 

 branches. In one case, for instance, the 

 plant is almost equally divided, one-half 

 being variegated, while the other half 

 is not variegated. Again, on a neigh- 

 boring plant one main lower branch is 

 not-variegated while the remainder is 

 almost wholly variegated. Further, 

 other variegated plants show several 

 small not variegated or green branches. 



These observations led to a study of 

 several Ptttosponim tobira plants where 

 frequent instances of variegated branch 

 sports were found. The degree of 

 variegation in these bud variations was 

 marked, ranging all the way from 

 branches bearing pure white, or almost 

 pure white leaves, as shown in Fig. 11, 

 to those having leaves with only very 

 narrow and small white areas. Typical 

 cases of variegated variations were 

 found similar in appearance to the 

 several strains of the variegated variety 

 planted in the vicinity of Riverside. 



The occurrence of the variegated bud 

 variations of Pittosporum tobira and the 

 fact that this plant is propagated by 

 cuttings, offers a logical explanation of 

 the origin of the variegated strains. 

 Furthermore, upon inquiry amongst 

 local propagators, it was found that the 

 variegated strains in this region have 

 been established by the propagation of 

 the beautiful variegated bud variations 

 of green-leaved Pittosporum tobira 

 plants. It was also found that propa- 

 gators have isolated not -variegated Pit- 

 tosporum tobira plants by propagating 



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