Native Apricot
Capsule split showing seed, ~12mm long
Sweet Pittosporum
Leaves
| Native Apricot Capsule split showing seed, ~12mm long | | Sweet Pittosporum Leaves | | ||
 | Class: | Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) | |||
| Order: | Carrots (Apiales) | ||||
| Family: | Pittosporum (Pittosporaceae) | ||||
| Species: | Native Apricot (Pittosporum angustifolium) | ||||
| This Photo: | Seed dispersed | ||||
| Other name: | Weeping Pittosporum | ||||
General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Flinders Ranges and elsewhere Always had a soft spot for these. They are easy to recognise when in fruit as they are so unique and the common name represents them perfectly. A small, narrow tree, with long pale green leaves (that have a "hooked" pointed tip) and yellow/orange fruit; apricot in colour. We have found their leaves to be very similar to E. longifolia (which we have hundreds of) so identification has been difficult. The bark is pale, smooth & has small white horizontal lines on it (when younger) and is generally single trunked. E. longifolia is dark, rough, without the lines and is generally multi-trunked. We only found one fruit this year (2012), so the extensive bird life we have at Ellura must have been enjoying them! Unlike an apricot, the fruit splits on the tree to reveal multiple seeds, rather than a single stone. The tree is often found with many (apparent) seedlings around it. Darren Schmitke tells us that they can sucker for up to 200m! So the seedlings may not be seedlings at all, but part of the same plant, growing from a damaged root. These used to be called Pittosporum phylliraeoides, but the name was changed to the current one. However, it's not a synonym because there is another plant called Pittosporum phylliraeoides now (these are coastal, where as P angustifolium is generally on the interior). | |||||
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