Phyllocladus

Location & distribution maps

Plant description

Common name:       Celery pines  

Conservation status:   . . .

Etymology:                  

• Phyllocladus is from Greek phyllon, a leaf and clados, a branch, referring to the leaf-like branchlets

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Cones & seed:                         

• The seed cones are berry-like, similar to those of several other Podocarpaceae genera, notably Halocarpus and Prumnopitys

• With a fleshy white aril; the seeds are dispersed by birds, which digest the soft, fleshy aril as they pass the hard seeds in their droppings

Leaves:         

•  The leaves are sparse, tiny, scale-like, 2–3 mm long, and only green (photosynthetic) for a short time, soon turning brown

• Most photosynthesis is performed by highly modified, leaf-like short shoots called phylloclades; these develop in the axils of the scale leaves, and are simple or compound (depending on species)

• Simple phylloclades are rhombic, 2–5 cm long, and compound phylloclades are up to 20 cm long and subdivided into five to 15 leaflet-like phylloclades 1–3 cm long

Stem:         

•  The main structural shoots are green for 2–3 years, then turn brown as the bark thickens

Habit:        

• They are small to medium-sized trees, reaching 10–30 m tall, or sometimes small shrubs

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

•  Species occur mainly in New Zealand, Tasmania, and Malesia in the Southern Hemisphere, though P. hypophyllus ranges into the Philippines, a short way north of the equator

Species:                     

• World:            ...

• Australia:      ...

Additional notes:     

• A small genus of conifers, now usually treated in the family Podocarpaceae

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllocladus (2023)