Hymenosporum flavum (Hook.) F.Muell. syn. Pittosporum flavum Hook. - Pittosporaceae - (Australian) native frangipani, Australischer Frangipani

Semi-deciduous shrub or tree, native to Australia (Queensland, New South Wales) and New Guinea, cultivated as ornamental; bark grey; leaves glossy green, alternate, obovate, 7-15cm long; flowers creamy white, turning golden yellow with red/purple track lines in the throat; fruit a dehiscent, two-chambered capsule, black/brown; seeds about 7mm long with a 4mm wing.

„The very fragrant flowers are quite large, about 40 mm (1.6 in) diameter with a floral tube up to 28 mm (1.1 in) long.[4] They are initially functionally male, and coloured white with lemon tinges. Over a period of about 5 days the stigma begins to develop and the stamens curl away. At the same time the colour deepens until the fully functioning female flower is golden yellow with red/purple track lines in the throat.“ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenosporum

„Inflorescences terminal, lax branched umbels of protandrous hermaphroditic, irregular, very aromatic flowers. Flowers open in male phase with stamens grouped by height (2 + 2+1, as for Marianthus) facing petal break, dehiscing golden pollen, with white-tinged lemon petals. In female phase flowers the petals become yellow with rosy purple track lines appearing in the throat, the stamens then curl out of the way of the developing stigma. Spatial and temporal changes over 5 days are at the level of the inflorescence so at any time all the flowers in that and surrounding inflorescences are at the same sex phase.“ Cayzer, Lindy (2020). "Hymenosporum flavum" . Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 25 February 2024.

„This is a very fine flowering tree that begins to bloom in early spring, when the fragrant, open, tubular flowers are cream-coloured. They darken with age to a deep sulphur yellow before they drop. In some forms the flowers may have a reddish centre. The effect of masses of cream and yellow flowers is very lovely. The flowering period extends to early summer. The 4 cm diameter flowers in terminal corymbs are sweetly scented, and about the size and shape of those of the frangipani, from which the common name is derived. In other respects the tree bears no resemblance.“ https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/hymenosporum-flavum/

Pittosporum flavum, Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, vol.80 t.4799 (1854) [W.H.Fitch]
http://botanicalillustrations.org/illustration.php?id_illustration=1466&id_taxon=6730

Hymenosporum flavum / Wien 3. Botanischer Garten der Universität Wien (HBV)
© Rolf Marschner (2019) www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at