Pittosporum undulatum
(Australian cheesewood)

Preferred Common Name

• Australian cheesewood

International Common Names

• English: Australian boxwood; Australian daphne; Australian mock orange; cheesewood; sweet pittosporum; Victorian box; Victorian laurel; wild coffee
• Portuguese: incenseiro

Local Common Names

• Australia: native daphne; orange-berry pittosporum
• Brazil: árvore-do-incenso,
• Colombia: jazmin del cabo
• Germany: Welliger Klebsame

EPPO code

• PTUUN (Pittosporum undulatum)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Pittosporales
•                         Family: Pittosporaceae
•                             Genus: Pittosporum
•                                 Species: Pittosporum undulatum

Pittosporum undulatum is a well-defined species in the family Pittosporaceae; sub-family Pittosporeae, series Bivalvae, and is probably the most widely cultivated Pittosporum species (Cooper, 1956). There are 150-200 species of Pittosporum native to a broad area from the Canary Islands to Pacific islands via tropical Africa and the Himalayas to Japan, though most are native to  Australasia where there are thought to be about 50 species (Goodland and Healey, 1996). P. undulatum hybridises naturally in its Australian native range, occasionally with Pittosporum bicolor in Victoria, and possibly also with Pittosporum revolutum further north (Cooper, 1956). There are other species within the genus that are noted as naturalizing or invasive, or potentially so, including Pittosporum pentandrum and Pittosporum viridiflorum in the Pacific (PIER, 2008), and Pittosporum tobira and Pittosporum tenuifolium in the Caribbean (Kairo et al., 2003). These species may also be possibly invasive elsewhere.

Pittosporum, from Greek, means "pitch-seed", referring to the resinous coating on the seeds. The species name undulatum is derived from the Latin unda, a wave or surge, referring to the characteristic wavy edges of the leaves.

P. undulatum can reach 30 m high, though often to 12 m and with a straight trunk and regular branch arrangement in favourable situations, but in dry exposed locations it is a shrub up to 2-3 m. Large trees may have a broad canopy up to 7 m across. Bark is coarse and grey.

P. undulatum was noted as a cultivated species by Cooper (1956) in Europe, Asia and South America, and it had already been widely introduced in the late 1800s. Goodland and Healey (1996) include reports of P. undulatum from several countries where it was spreading through forest and scrub in montane areas of the tropics, sub-tropics and warm temperate areas, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Ocean islands, as well as Jamaica where the study was concentrated. It was introduced to Hawaii by 1875, and Jamaica in 1883 from seeds from Tamil Nadu, India and St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as directly from its native Australia (Goodland and Healey, 1996), so it must have already been introduced to India and other countries and islands many years earlier. It had also been introduced to South Africa and some other Pacific islands at least by 1901 (Goodland and Healey, 1996).

Soil drainage

• free
• impeded

Soil reaction

• acid
• neutral

Soil texture

• light
• medium

Special soil tolerances

• shallow

Natural Dispersal (Non-Biotic)

Vector Transmission (Biotic)

Accidental Introduction

Intentional Introduction

Control costs of P. undulatum where it is an environmental weed have not been specifically quantified. There are also effects on water yield and sediment load (Goodland and Healey, 1996) that may have additional economic effects. Positive impacts are possible, as have been noted where invasive in Jamaica, as its greater productivity should have benefits, particularly to local people through the production of fuelwood and timber (Goodland and Healey, 1996). It has also been observed as a possible host plant for citrus aphid, though this has not been confirmed.

In wet sclerophyll forest in early stages of invasion in Victoria, Australia, only one native plant species was found beneath dense clumps of P. undulatum, and in other areas it has been described as very dominant and considered the most serious threat to native forests (Gleadow and Ashton, 1981). The depressive effect on native vegetation and the significant impacts to forest structure has led to P. undulatum being controlled in many nature reserves and parks in Australia. In southern Australia, P. undulatum has established in new areas and causes a serious reduction in floristic and structural diversity (Gleadow and Narayan, 2007). Also in Victoria, Mullett and Simmons (1995) observed a reduction in the cover and abundance of indigenous species with increasing cover and abundance of P. undulatum concluding that shade is likely to be the primary factor, and along with secondary impacts, indicating that P. undulatum poses a very serious threat to the ecological sustainability and integrity of remnant vegetation complexes in Victoria as the species continues to increase both its range and local densities. Vigorous growth of the naturally occurring P. undulatum x P. bicolor hybrid in Victoria, Australia is also resulting in serious ‘swamping’ of P. bicolor via hybridisation (Goodland and Healey, 1996). 

Around Sydney, New South Wales, P. undulatum and other invasive exotic plants caused substantial decreases in native species richness to the point of elimination in older suburbs, including one vulnerable taxon (Tetratheca glandulosa) (Rose and Fairweather, 1997). Rose (1997) observed that suburban edges exert a major influence on invasion of the native P. undulatum in dry sclerophyll bushland in the same area, which had seen significant increases of P. undulatum over 90 years, and floristic and structural simplification appear to be the principal impacts exerted on the vegetation composition at invaded sites. There is also an observed additional environmental side-effect, however, that by publicly calling P. undulatum a weed in its native range, this puts at risk scarce remnants of indigenous vegetation, as people may cut the tree in areas where it is truly indigenous thus causing a reduction in local biodiversity (Howell, 2000).

Where introduced and invasive in Jamaica, P. undulatum is able to grow at higher densities than any native species and, combined with its dense crown, achieves dominance and appears to reduce the survival and growth of even shade-tolerant native species (Goodland and Healey, 1996). It has a serious impact on all native vegetation types, though it invades them at different rates, and in areas invaded by P. undulatum a sharp decrease in native species richness has been recorded probably caused by the dense shade it casts (Binggeli and Goodland, 1997). P. undulatum impacts on native vegetation via shading, below ground competition, nutrient cycling, allelopathy, and indirect effects, and although the impacts on animals and ecosystem processes are likely to be negative they are almost completely unresearched (Goodland and Healey, 1996). It can also affect water available in South Africa (Smith, 1990). Also, in the Azores, Portugal, the Azores bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula murina) is known to exist only in the east of São Miguel island where it is largely confined to native laurel (Laurus azorica) forest, but its population and distribution has been impacted on by large-scale invasion by exotic flora, mainly P. undulatum, Hedychium gardnerianum and Clethra arborea, which followed clearing the forest for pasture and afforestation by P. undulatum and another exotic, Cryptomeria japonica (Ramos, 1996).

In the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, P. undulatum continues to spread as a weed, and may impact on local aesthetics and even land values, though no data are available. In the Blue Mountains of Jamaica in August-December, the orange capsules can be so abundant on P. undulatum trees that they can be seen from over two kilometres away, colouring whole hillsides, so that the characteristic colours and textures of the natural forest are lost, especially to most hikers who are probably attracted as much by the prospect of long-distance views as by the appearance of trail side forest (Goodland and Healey, 1996).

• Invasive in its native range
• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Highly mobile locally
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Has high reproductive potential
• Has high genetic variability

• Changed gene pool/ selective loss of genotypes
• Damaged ecosystem services
• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Increases vulnerability to invasions
• Modification of hydrology
• Modification of nutrient regime
• Modification of successional patterns
• Monoculture formation
• Negatively impacts forestry
• Reduced amenity values
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of endangered species
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Allelopathic
• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - shading
• Pest and disease transmission
• Hybridization
• Interaction with other invasive species
• Pollen swamping
• Rapid growth

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately
• Difficult/costly to control

P. undulatum makes very good firewood, produces excellent charcoal and is a useful all purpose timber. One of its popular names in Australia is ‘engravers wood’ and it was the preferred wood for golf clubs in Australia in the early 1900s, and was used as a source of carving wood in Jamaica, as well as fuel and construction poles. Goodland and Healy (1996) estimated its value as US $27/m³ as fuel wood, US $40/m³ for charcoal, and US $410/m³ as sawn timber. It also has potential as a source of essential oils in Brazil (Ferreira et al., 2007), and was also considered for this use in Australia and California though no further information is available. The fruit of P. undulatum was once of particular interest as a source of terpenes for use as a fuel oil. In St Helena, P. undulatum is pollarded and fed to stalled goats and cattle. Abundant nectar production also makes it good for honey bees.

Due to its fragrant and attractive flowers it is a respected ornamental plant in its native Australia and also where introduced, such as in Italy (Cacciola and Polizzi, 1996) and elsewhere, being once described as one of the handsomest flowering trees of Australia, and because the rich perfume of its white blossoms extends over a considerable area.

It is also a hedging plant and is used as a windbreak, and as a living fence in Colombia (Lee et al., 2000).