Species
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Pittosporum pentandrum (Blanco) Merr.

Mamalis, Taiwanese cheesewood

Climate known 62 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Pittosporum is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the family Pittosporaceae. Plants in the genus Pittosporum are shrubs or trees with leaves arranged alternately along the stems. The flowers are arranged singly or in cymes, with white to yellow petals fused at the base forming a short tube, with stamens that are free from each other. The fruit is a capsule with a single locule that opens to reveal angular seeds.

Text from Wikipedia, “Pittosporum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Pittosporum

Pittosporum is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the family Pittosporaceae. Plants in the genus Pittosporum are shrubs or trees with leaves arranged alternately along the stems. The flowers are arranged singly or in cymes, with white to yellow petals fused at the base forming a short tube, with stamens that are free from each other. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Pittosporum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Pittosporaceae
Described by
(Blanco) Merr.
Native to
Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan +4
Wild records
658 in range· 186 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 26 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2104mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Aug 369 mm (CHELSA)
Light
21–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 2104 mm a year, wettest August at 369 mm, driest January at 37 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 15.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Aquilaria pentandra Blanco; Bursaria inermis Blanco; Pittosporum brachysepalum Turcz.; Pittosporum fernandezii S.Vidal; Pittosporum fernandezii S.Vidal ex Fern.-Vill. and 1 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1604 mm of 2104 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.0 °C against a yearly mean of 23.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2104 mm a year, wettest August at 369 mm, driest January at 37 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2104 mm a year at the habitat, 1604 mm of it May to September. Wettest month August at 369 mm, driest January at 37 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1533 mm to 3346 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 15.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 15.7 °C, the absolute minimum 11.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 11.7 °C to 20.6 °C), warmest day 29.5 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 20 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 15 °C in Jan to 26 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2104 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 250 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 11.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°33.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)11.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 21–37RH 62–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 250 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 17–2521 / 17–2623 / 20–2725 / 23–2927 / 25–3029 / 27–3030 / 27–3129 / 27–3028 / 26–2926 / 24–2824 / 22–2621 / 18–25
Night °C15 / 12–2115 / 12–2118 / 14–2221 / 18–2423 / 21–2625 / 22–2626 / 23–2725 / 23–2724 / 22–2622 / 20–2520 / 17–2316 / 13–21
Rain mm37 / 18–16655 / 24–22464 / 33–204105 / 52–201218 / 155–330353 / 184–489340 / 176–538369 / 204–577324 / 169–509129 / 39–37268 / 24–26242 / 19–185
DLI23 / 15–2826 / 18–3232 / 24–3735 / 29–3934 / 31–3734 / 32–3737 / 33–3934 / 31–3631 / 29–3429 / 23–3224 / 18–2821 / 15–26
RH %63 / 61–6864 / 61–6864 / 61–6865 / 62–6865 / 63–6967 / 64–7066 / 64–7067 / 65–7166 / 64–6964 / 61–6864 / 60–6862 / 59–68

Each figure is the median across the 250 grid cells holding the 646 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1346:6008 (22.675, 120.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 250 distinct grid cells holding the 646 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1346:6008 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.50_120.625, lapse-corrected -170 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 38 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeHainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Vietnam, Borneo, Philippines, Sulawesi· introduced: Hawaii, Florida
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker22.694, 120.357 · in the densest population, 474 records (72% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 658 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 186 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 29 km away. 72 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 12 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 658 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Pittosporum pentandrumPittosporum pentandrumPittosporum pentandrumPittosporum pentandrumPittosporum pentandrumPittosporum pentandrumPittosporum pentandrumPittosporum pentandrum

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (5); (c) 高山田鼠, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Jason, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Pittosporum pentandrum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Sesquiterpene glycosides from Pittosporum pentandrum
Consolacion Y. Ragasa, John A. Rideout, Diana S. Tierra, John C. Coll (1997) · Phytochemistry
Mutagenic and Antimutagenic Activities in Philippine Medicinal and Food Plants
Clara Y. Lim-Sylianco, W. Thomas Shier (1985) · Journal of Toxicology Toxin Reviews
Two new genera and four new species of the tribe Anthocoptini (Acari: Eriophyidae) from South China
Meng Chao Tan, Yu Ping Mo, Wen Lu, Guo Quan Wang (2016) · Systematic and Applied Acarology
Infection patterns of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter europaeus’ in Cacopsylla oluanpiensis, a psyllid pest of Pittosporum pentandrum
Zi-Qing Fang, Yi‐Chang Liao, Shin Lee, Man‐Miao Yang (2023) · Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
QUORUM SENSING-MEDIATED ?- HEMOLYSIN INHIBITION OF PHILIPPINE ETHNOBOTANICALS IN Staphylococcus aureus
(2018) · International Journal of Biology Pharmacy and Allied Sciences
Phytochemical Analysis and Cytotoxicity Potential of Pittosporum pentandrum (Mamalis) Crude Leaf Extract Using Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay
Stephanie Ocal, Ricky Boy Ferrer, Karla Namoc, Sharlene Cherry Suratos De Guzman (2018) · Asian journal of multidisciplinary studies
BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF PHILIPPINE ETHNOTOXIC PLANTS
(2018) · International Journal of Biology Pharmacy and Allied Sciences
Notes on new collections of Malaysian Pittosporum (Pittosporaceae)
K. Bakker (1962) · The Digital Academic Repository of Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Naturalis Biodiversity Center)
Medicinal Plants Used for Postpartum Recuperation in an Upland Community in Leon, Iloilo, the Philippines
Leovie Ann Tiquio, Cecilia S. Cordero, Marie Frances J. Nievales, Grecebio Jonathan D. Alejandro (2024) · The Philippine journal of science
Effects of Soil Properties on Restoring Indigenous Plants in Coral Reef Landscapes
Hsiung-Hua Wang, Fen-Hui Chen, Zeng‐Yei Hseu, Yao-Lun Kuo (2012) · Táiwān línyè kēxué

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Pittosporum 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 37 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.