Pittosporece .] 
THE COLONY OE VICTORIA. 
71 
PITTOSPORUM. 
Banks and Solander, according to Gcertn. de Fruct. et Sem. pi. i. 286, t. 59. 
Sepals free, seldom unequally united. Petals equal; tlieir claws more or less coherent into a 
tube. Stamens free, straight. Anther-cells bursting lengthwise. Style filiform. Stigma imperfectly 
2-5-lobed. Capsule thick-coriaceous or bony , 2-5-valved, with imperfect dissepiments. Seeds enve¬ 
loped in a viscid pulp , wingless, few or many in each cell, turgid or somewhat angular-compressed. 
Trees or shrubs, rarely of epiphytal growth, scattered in a scanty number of species over 
Continental Australia, comparatively frequent in New Zealand, rather rare in Polynesia, Africa, and 
the warmer parts of Asia. Leaves alternate or those situated at the summit of the branchlets crowded 
into whorls, generally coriaceous and entire, rarely toothed. Flowers hermajdrrodite, seldom poly¬ 
gamous, axillary and terminal, solitary, corymbose, umbellate or paniculate, often fragrant, Capsules 
frequently verging towards an ovate or globose form, rarely cylindrical. Seeds commonly congluti- 
nated to a somewhat compact mass, rarely distant and pendulous.— Putt . Syn. 5 ; Wight & Am. 
Prodr. 153 ; Endl. Gen . 1082 ; Blume Mus . Bot. Lugd. Bat. 159 ; J. Hook. Flor. of New Zeal. i. 21. 
Fittosporum undulatum, Ventenat Ilort. Cels. t. 7G, Andr. Bot. Hep. t. 383 5 Sclirad. Gen. 
Nov. Emend, t. 4; Delaun. Herb. Amat. t. 86 ; Ker Bot . Beg. t. 16; Diet. Class, t. xv.; Duham. Traite 
des Arbres, iv. 62; Putterl. Syn . Pittosp. 6 . 
Branchlets verticillate, spreading; leaves on conspicuous petioles, thin-coriaceous, lanceolate or ovate- 
lanceolate, acute or acuminate, glabrous, spreading-nerved, finely net-veined, undulate at the margin, above 
shining, beneath paler and opaque, at the summit of the branchlets nearly verticillate, otherwise scattered ; 
petioles at first, as well as the young branchlets, the peduncles and the pedicels, slightly downy; corymbs 
or compound umbels terminal; bracts and bracteoles linear-subulate; sepals unequally connate , lanceolate, 
with a long acumen; petals white , narrow spathulate-oblong, blunt; anthers oblong-sagittate, about half as 
long* as the filaments; ovaiy outside everywhere oppressed-downy; capsules pearshaped-globose, fulvous, 
smooth, turgid, 2- rarely 3-valved; valves thick-coriaceous; funicles very short; seeds many, angular, 
brownish-rubiginous. 
On the banks of rivers in humid forest districts or on rocky places, about Western Port, on the Buchan 
River, the Tambo, the Broadribb and Snowy River; thence through Eastern Australia as far north as the 
Hastings River. 
A bushy umbrageous tree of noble aspect, highly recommendable for avenue plantations in this country, 
attaining in favorable situations a height of 40 feet, although in barren exposed places it may remain of 
shrubby habit. Branchlets terete, soon perfectly glabrous. Leaves mostly from 2-5 inches long, 1-1J inch 
broad, teethless. Primary peduncles solitary, or more frequently several, from §—2 inches long. Pedicels 
from 1 J line to 1 inch long, slender-filiform, furnished at the base with a solitary deciduous bracteole, which 
is 1 or a few lines long, and occasionally accompanied by a few diminutive accessorial bracteoles. Flowers 
veiy fragrant. Sepals almost glabrous or particularly at the margin downy, united below into a nearly 
unilateral or somewhat bilabiate calyx, 2—3 or occasionally 4 fines long. Petals glabrous, 4-6 fines long, 
above the middle 1-1 \ fine broad. Filaments subulate,-smooth. Anthers 1-1J line long, yellow, at the 
termination of the basal sinus fixed to the filament. Style glabrous, 1-2 fines long. Lobes of stigma almost 
semiovate, about J fine long, with a slight middle-furrow. Capsule 5-8 fines long, before quite ripe of a 
strong odor reminding of that of orange-peel, finally valvate to the base. Dissepiment very imperfect. 
Seeds forming two irregular rows, being densely conglutinated by their viscid envelope, angular by mutual 
pressure, 1 - 1 J line long, verging* into a more or less globose, ovate or rhomboid form. 
Amongst Australian congeners P. revolutum comes nearest to this species, from which it differs in 
shorter petioles, still more regularly subverticillate leaves, which are clothed beneath with short rust-brown 
