Pittosporum tobira (Thunb.) W.T. Aiton

vernacular Japanese cheesewood — species · Pittosporaceae

USDA: PITO2
GBIF: 8677924
Rank: species

Japanese cheesewood (Pittosporum tobira) — Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Pittosporaceae R. Br.
Genus: Pittosporum

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 1 county across 1 state

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 1 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: None
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 7 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 220 min.
Precipitation: 24–60 in/yr
pH range: 5.5–7
Root depth: 18 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 20 ft
Height @ 20 y: 20 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: White-Gray
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: Orange
Fire resistant: Yes
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: None
Stratify: No
Propagation: cuttings, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.

Florida view state ↗ 1 I ▾

Gadsden 12039

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PITO2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/8677924 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T10:50:45Z