Podocarpus
Yellow-wood
Yellow-wood
Wikipedia links: Gymnosperms > Cupressales > Podocarpaceae > Podocarpus
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Common name: Yellow-wood
Common names for various species include "yellowwood" and "pine"
Examples: plum pine (Podocarpus elatus), the Buddhist pine (Podocarpus macrophyllus)
Conservation status: . . .
Etymology:
The name comes from Greek πούς (poús, "foot") + καρπός (karpós, "fruit")
Cones and seed:
Generally dioecious, with the male pollen cones and female seed cones borne on separate individual plants, but some species may be monoecious
The cones develop from axillary buds, and may be solitary or form clusters
The cones have two to five fused cone scales
These form a fleshy, berry-like, brightly coloured receptacle at maturity
The fleshy cones attract birds, which then eat the cones and disperse the seeds in their droppings
The pollen cones are long and catkin-like in shape
They may be sessile or short pedunculate
A pollen cone consists of a slender rachis with numerous spirally arranged microsporophylls around it
Each triangular microsporophyll has two basal pollen-producing pollen sacs
The pollen is bisaccate
The seed cones are highly modified with the few cone scales swelling and fusing at maturity
The cones are pedunculate and often solitary
The seed cone consists of two to five cone scales of which only the uppermost one or rarely two nearest the apex of the cone are fertile
Each fertile scale usually has one apical ovule
The infertile basal scales fuse and swell to form a succulent, usually brightly colored receptacle
Each cone generally has only one seed, but may have two or rarely more
The seed is attached to the apex of the receptacle
The seed is entirely covered by a fleshy modified scale known as an epimatium
The epimatium is usually green, but may be bluish or reddish in some species
Leaves:
The leaves are simple and flattened, and may be sessile or short petiolate
The phyllotaxis or leaf arrangement is spiral, and may be subopposite on some shoots
The leaves are usually linear-lanceolate or linear-elliptic in shape, though they can be broader lanceolate, ovate, or nearly elliptic in some species
Juvenile leaves are often larger than adult leaves, though similar in shape
The leaves are coriaceous and have a distinct midrib
The stomata are usually restricted to the abaxial or underside of the leaf, forming two stomatal bands around the midrib
Stem & branches:
The primary branches form pseudowhorls around the trunk
The bark can be scaly or fibrous and peeling with vertical strips
Terminal buds are distinctive with bud scales that are often imbricate and can be spreading
Habit:
Evergreen shrubs or trees
They are generally trees
Usually from 1 to 25 m tall, known to reach 40 m
Some shrubby species have a decumbent growth habit
Habitat:
Distribution:
The most numerous and widely distributed genus of the Podocarpaceae
Species:
World: About 97 to 107 species are placed in the genus depending on the circumscription of the species
Australia:
Additional notes:
Species are cultivated as ornamental plants for parks and large gardens
The cultivar 'County Park Fire' has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit
Sources of information: