Species

Pittosporum rigidum

Etymology

Pittosporum: pitch seed
rigidum: stiff

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Pittosporum rigidum Hook.f.

Family

Pittosporaceae

Brief Description

Hard shrub with thick wide-angled pale branches bearing often brownish small leathery leaves varying between smooth oval leaves and deeply-lobed leaves. Twigs with rusty or pale fuzz. Flowers dark red, inconspicuous. Fruit a capsule, surface uneven, splitting into two to show the 6-12 black seeds.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

PITRIG

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Pittosporum rigidum Hook.f. var. rigidum, Pittosporum rigidum var. majus Allan, Pittosporum crassicaule Laing et Gourlay

Similar Taxa

The characters used to distinguish Pittosporum crassicaule seem scarcely sufficient to separate this entity at species rank from the rather variable P. rigidum. Similarly the staus of larger-leaved forms known as var. majus is unclear. P. rigidum would repay critical study using a selection of molecular markers.

Flower Colours

Red / Pink

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 24

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No


This page last updated on 11 Jan 2013