Afrocarpus
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Location & distribution maps
Phylogeny & links to associated information
Phylogeny & links to associated information
Wikipedia links: Gymnosperms > Cupressales > Podocarpaceae > Afrocarpus . . .
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Plant information
Plant information
Overview:
Afrocarpus is a genus of conifers of the family Podocarpaceae
Two to six species are recognized
They are evergreen trees native to Africa. Afrocarpus was designated a genus in 1989, when several species formerly classified in Podocarpus and Nageia were reclassified
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Etymology:
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Habitat:
Distribution:
As the name intimates, Afrocarpus is native to Africa
The species are distributed through the Afromontane forests of eastern and southern Africa, descending to the Indian Ocean coast in South Africa
The genus is native to Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda
The podocarps are associated with the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, where they were characteristic of the cool, moist southern Gondwana flora
Gondwana broke up into the continents of South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica between 160 and 30 million years ago
As Africa drifted north, it became hotter and drier, and the podocarps generally retreated to the cool, moist highlands of eastern and southern Africa
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Afrocarpus gaussenii was based on a single specimen of a cultivated individual of Afrocarpus falcatus in Madagascar
Its distinctive features might have resulted from the conditions of its cultivation. No species of Afrocarpus is known to be native to Madagascar
In a recent treatment of Afrocarpus, only two species were recognized; A. dawei, A. gracilior, and A. usambarensis were sunk into A. falcatus
The reason for this merger was that "variation across the group appears to be essentially continuous"
Studies based on anatomical, biogeographical, morphological, and DNA evidence suggest the following relationships:
Description
Afrocarpus are evergreen trees
The individuals of the largest species, Afrocarpus falcatus, may reach a height of 60 m
The thin bark often peels with scale-like plates
The leaves are simple and flat
The phyllotaxis or leaf arrangement is usually spiral but may be opposite on young plants
The leaves are generally lanceolate in shape and coriaceous in texture
They have a single visible midrib. Stomata are found on both surfaces of the leaf
Afrocarpus are dioecious, with male pollen cones and female seed cones borne on separate individual plants
The cones are short pedunculate and usually develop from axillary buds
The male pollen cones are narrowly cylindrical and resemble catkins
They grow in small groups of two or three cones
The peduncles are glabrous
Each pollen cone has numerous spirally inserted microsporophylls each with two basal pollen sacs producing bisaccate pollen
The female seed cones are solitary
Their peduncles may have small scale leaves
The cones consist of several sterile cone scales and one fertile cone scale with just one seed producing ovule
The sterile scales wither as the cone matures, unlike in the closely related genus Podocarpus where the scales fuse to form a fleshy receptacle
A part of the scale supporting the ovule develops into a rounded fleshy covering enclosing the seed entirely known as the epimatium
At maturity the epimatium varies in shape from subglobose to elliptic or obovoid and in color from greenish to yellow or brown
Uses
In South Africa, this wood is mostly used to make exclusive furniture
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