Japanese mock orange
Pittosporum tobira (Thunb.) W.T.Aiton
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 3.2 m
- wide
- 2.0 m
Pittosporaceae
Also called Japanese cheesewood, Japanese pittosporum, Mock orange, Japanese mock-orange, Cheesewood
Formerly Euonymus tobira
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- ShrubKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- SubtropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- S. Korea, SC. & S. Japan to Nansei-shotōKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, not yet checkedBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS full, part; NC State Extension full, part, shade. Checker: NC State Extension page does not state full, part, shade: lists only full sun and partial shade
- Height
- 2.5 m to 4.0 mRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 2.5–4 m; NC State Extension 8–13 ft
- Spread
- 1.5 m to 2.4 mRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS 1.5–2.5 m; NC State Extension 4–8 ft
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from RHS and NC State Extension, not yet checked: its sources are splitTied: no reading has a majority of the 2 sources, so all are kept for a person to settle. Sources differ: RHS medium; NC State Extension low
- Flowers
- YellowRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS white, yellow; NC State Extension cream, yellow
- Coldest it survives
- -8.6 °C (USDA zone 8b)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: RHS -5 °C; NC State Extension -12.2 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Clavo verde asiático, Azarero asiático
- Portuguese
- Pitósporo-da-china, pitósporo-chinês, Faia-do-Norte
- Chinese
- 海桐, 海桐花, 海桐枝叶
- Italian
- Pittosporo
- Japanese
- トベラ
- French
- Pittospore du japon
- Estonian
- jaapani vaiguseemnik
- German
- Chinesischer Klebsame
- Czech
- slizoplod tobira
- Russian
- Питтоспорум Тобира
- Catalan
- Pitòspor
- Greek
- Αγγελικούλα
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-28, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Pittosporum tobira (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.