Common name: Karo, Ralph’s Kohuhu
Pittosporum ralphii Kirk APNI* Description: Shrub 2.5–5 (–7) m high, branches spreading.
Leaves alternate, frequently crowded at the tips of the branchlets; petiole 8–22 mm long, white to grey-hairy; leaves of some cultivars are variegated; lamina oblong-elliptic to obovate or occasionally oblanceolate, 40–120 mm long, 20–40 mm wide, tomentose when young, becoming glabrous yet remaining densely appressed-white-tomentose beneath, coriaceous; margin entire, unthickened, flat or revolute, undulate.
Inflorescence a terminal 2–10-flowered umbel, on long leading or short axillary shoots, fascicled. Flowers appearing hermaphroditic, possibly functionally unisexual; urceolate; pedicels 6–14 mm long. Sepals linear, 5–11 mm long, pale. Petals oblanceolate-linear to oblong-linear, 10–18 mm long, 2–4 mm wide, united for a little more than half their length from base, free in apical third and then spreading rapidly becoming strongly reflexed, dark red to purple. Stamens 4.5–9.0 mm long. Ovary white-tomentose.
Fruits a trigonous, oblate to obovoid capsule, 3- or rarely 2-valved, apiculate, 11–17 (–20) mm long, 9–15 mm diam., white-tomentose, glabrate, rugose. Seeds 9–17, black, irregular to round.
Flowering: Generally around August to October.
Distribution and occurrence: Ornamental, naturalised in wet sclerophyll forest of the Central Tablelands. In its native New Zealand habitat it grows in forest margins and streamsides.
NSW subdivisions: *CT
Text by T.C. Wilson (Februaryl 2026)
Taxon concept: R.O. Makinson. Pittosporum eugenioides, in P.G. Kodela (ed.), Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Pittosporum%20eugenioides [Date Accessed: 26 January 2026]; original concept: Cayzer, L. (2002). Pittosporaceae, in Spencer, R. (ed.), Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia Volume 3. Flowering Plants - Dicotyledons Part 2: 11–23. (University of New South Wales Press: Sydney).
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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