This evergreen shrub is bearing discreet flowers in the Terrace Garden.
The genus Pittosporum contains approximately 250 species of trees, shrubs and epiphytes which occur from savannah to rainforests of Australia, southern Africa, south and east Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Species are usually evergreen and have attractive, glossy foliage and five-petalled flowers which are either axillary i.e. held in the leaf axils, or terminal i.e. held at the tip of the shoot. P. tenuifolium (kohuhu) is a native of New Zealand where it occurs in coastal to montane shrubland and forest. It can reach 10m in height and has glossy, oblong leaves with a wavy margin, and honey-scented, axillary flowers of deep red to black, which may be produced singly or in small clusters. The name Pittosporum means tar seed, and refers to the resinous seed coat, while tenuifolium means narrow-leaved.