Podocarpus

Location & distribution maps

Plant description

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:

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