Hi @floralies, I looked at loads of pics online and also on Burncoose’s site which has a big range of variegated pittosporum, and some do grow pretty big... but they all had purple flowers and these are white. A couple of the tobiria forms have white flowers, but wrong leaf!! It’s a possibility though, that Spain imports different varieties from NZ that the UK.
I went to the garden centre today but they didn’t recognise my shrub, except to say they thought it might be a type of euonymus, but plant knowledge is very limited here so that doesn’t necessarily mean much.
Should have thought to look for these before, but here is another clue - seed pods! Don’t know if this will help at all, but they are 1cm long and in two halves, not four with berries inside, like most euonymus. I split one open, there are six minuscule brown seeds inside, but they could be immature still:
"The species are trees and shrubs growing to 2–30 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged or whorled, simple, with an entire or waved (rarely lobed) margin."
That is what you see in last pic...not opposite or alternate...spiral!
@Silver surfer thanks so much for pursuing an ID with such interest, I must say it was beginning to baffle me. But, I think you are right and it could be this one, what do you think?
The leaves look right, down to the new growth being all cream. It doesn’t say what the flowers are like, so I will definitely follow up on that next year. From recollection they appear in early summer.
Thanks also to @floralies for the suggestion. It’s obviously not a common pittosporum as there is not much on it on the net.
Quote from above site......Variegated Japanese Mock Orange. When I first saw this
jewel in an English garden center in 2000 I was totally taken by it.
This is one of the best variegations in the woody plant kingdom. The
leaves have a broad white margin with a pewter green center giving the
appearance from a distance of a silver mound. The leaves are half the
size of the species, but the flowers are very similar; although, they
tend to be lost in the variegated foliage. This selection can be easily
maintained at a 2-3' height with a little judicious shearing, but left
unattended it will reach a height of 5-6'. I think once this cultivar
becomes better known, that it will take the horticultural work by
storm.
Having seen the pics on your link, the colour of the stems is right too, a silvery grey/light brown, rather than the usual dark stems of pittosporum. I think we may have cracked it 🥂
How strange, given it seems pretty unusual, that it made it to my garden at some point in the past, but the GCs do often have odd things in for a season then you never see it again.
Suggest you go back to Garden Centre and bring them up to date with what you have found...suggest they start propagation from your shrub.It needs to be better known. Very little on www about it. Only a few nurseries in UK sell it..
Posts
The plot thickens...
It is definitely not any Euonymus sp.
Euonymus have leaves that are opposite.
Well done finding the seed capsules...another very welcome clue.
Pretty sure it is Pittosporum.
But not one that I am familiar with.
There are many species.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittosporum
Nollie I would love to see the flower next year...do please add a pic or 2.
Additional info...
Quote...
"The species are trees and shrubs growing to 2–30 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged or whorled, simple, with an entire or waved (rarely lobed) margin."
That is what you see in last pic...not opposite or alternate...spiral!
https://www.taylorsnursery.com/plant/Pittosporum-heterophyllum-variegatum
The leaves look right, down to the new growth being all cream. It doesn’t say what the flowers are like, so I will definitely follow up on that next year. From recollection they appear in early summer.
Thanks also to @floralies for the suggestion. It’s obviously not a common pittosporum as there is not much on it on the net.
Never seen it...but a beauty.
https://nurcar.com/products/copy-of-pittosporum-daphniphylloides
Pittosporum heterophyllum 'Variegata'
Quote from above site......Variegated Japanese Mock Orange. When I first saw this jewel in an English garden center in 2000 I was totally taken by it. This is one of the best variegations in the woody plant kingdom. The leaves have a broad white margin with a pewter green center giving the appearance from a distance of a silver mound. The leaves are half the size of the species, but the flowers are very similar; although, they tend to be lost in the variegated foliage. This selection can be easily maintained at a 2-3' height with a little judicious shearing, but left unattended it will reach a height of 5-6'. I think once this cultivar becomes better known, that it will take the horticultural work by storm.
How strange, given it seems pretty unusual, that it made it to my garden at some point in the past, but the GCs do often have odd things in for a season then you never see it again.
Very little on www about it.
Only a few nurseries in UK sell it..
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/Nurseries-Search-Result?query=113750&name=&view=listView
According to this site flowers yellow/ pale lemon.
https://garden.org/plants/view/589072/Pittosporum-heterophyllum-Variegatum/
Sadly too cold here for it....Pittosporum not very hardy.