Podocarpus Tree

Podocarpus

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Podocarpus (from the Greek, podos, meaning "foot", and karpos, meaning "fruit") is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. The 105 species of Podocarpus are evergreen shrubs or trees from 1-25 m (rarely to 40 m) in height. The leaves are 0.5-15 cm long, lanceolate to oblong, falcate (sickle-shaped) in some species, with a distinct midrib, and are arranged spirally, though in some species twisted to appear in two horizontal ranks. The cones have two to five fused scales, of which only one, rarely two, are fertile, each fertile scale with one apical seed. At maturity, the scales become berry-like, swollen, brightly coloured red to purple and fleshy, and are eaten by birds which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. The male (pollen) cones are 5-20 mm long, often clustered several together. Many species, though not all, are dioecious.
Podocarpus macrophyllus with mature seed cones

Podocarpus and the Podocarpaceae were endemic to the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which broke up into Africa, South America, India, Australia-New Guinea, New Zealand, and New Caledonia between 105 and 45 million years ago. Podocarpus is a characteristic tree of the Antarctic flora, which originated in the cool, moist climate of southern Gondwana, and elements of the flora survive in the humid temperate regions of the former supercontinent. As the continents drifted north and became drier and hotter, Podocarps and other members of the Antarctic flora generally retreated to humid regions, especially in Australia, where sclerophyll genera like Acacia and Eucalyptus became predominant, and the old Antarctic flora retreated to pockets that presently cover only 2% of the continent. As Australia drifted north toward Asia, the collision pushed up the Indonesian archipelago and the mountains of New Guinea, which allowed podocarp species to hop across the narrow straits into humid Asia, with P. macrophyllus reaching north to southern China and Japan. The flora of Malesia, which includes the Malay peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Guinea, is generally derived from Asia but includes many elements of the old Gondwana flora, including several other genera in the Podocarpaceae (Dacrycarpus, Dacrydium, Falcatifolium, Nageia, Phyllocladus, and the Malesian endemic Sundacarpus), and also Agathis in the Araucariaceae.


Classification

There are two subgenera, subgenus Podocarpus and subgenus Foliolatus, distinguished by cone and seed morphology.
P. henkelii

Subgenus Podocarpus. Cone not subtended by lanceolate bracts, seed usually with an apical ridge. Distributed in the temperate forests of Tasmania, New Zealand, southern Chile, with some species extending into the tropical highlands of Africa and the Americas.

Subgenus Foliolatus. Cone subtended by two lanceolate bracts ("foliola"), seed usually without an apical ridge. Generally tropical and subtropical distribution, concentrated in east and southeast Asia and Malesia, overlapping with subgenus Podocarpus in northeastern Australia and New Caledonia.

Species in family Podocarpaceae have been reshuffled a number of times based on genetic and physiological evidence, with many species formerly assigned to genus Podocarpus now assigned to other genera. A sequence of classification schemes have moved species between Nageia and Podocarpus, and in 1969 de Laubenfels divided the huge genus Podocarpus into Dacrycarpus, Decussocarpus (an invalid name he later revised to the valid Nageia), Prumnopitys, and Podocarpus.


Species

    Subgenus Podocarpus
        section Podocarpus (eastern and southern Africa)
            Podocarpus elongatus
            Podocarpus latifolius
            Podocarpus falcatus
        section Scytopodium (Madagascar, eastern Africa)
            Podocarpus capuronii
            Podocarpus henkelii
            Podocarpus humbertii
            Podocarpus madagascariensis
            Podocarpus rostratus
        section Australis (southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, southern Chile)
        P. totara
            Podocarpus alpinus
            Podocarpus cunninghamii
            Podocarpus gnidioides
            Podocarpus lawrencei
            Podocarpus nivalis
            Podocarpus nubigenus
            Podocarpus totara
        section Crassiformis (northeast Queensland)
            Podocarpus smithii
        section Capitulatis (central Chile, southern Brazil, the Andes from northern Argentina to Ecuador)
            Podocarpus glomeratus
            Podocarpus lambertii
            Podocarpus parlatorei
            Podocarpus salignus
            Podocarpus sellowii
            Podocarpus sprucei
            Podocarpus transiens
        section Pratensis (southeast Mexico to Guyana and Peru)
            Podocarpus oleifolius
            Podocarpus pendulifolius
            Podocarpus tepuiensis
        section Lanceolatis (southern Mexico, Puerto Rico, Lesser Antilles, Venezuela to highland Bolivia)
            Podocarpus coriaceus
            Podocarpus matudai
            Podocarpus rusbyi
            Podocarpus salicifolius
            Podocarpus steyermarkii
        section Pumilis (southern Caribbean islands and Guyana highlands)
            Podocarpus angustifolius
            Podocarpus aristulatus
            Podocarpus buchholzii
            Podocarpus roraimae
            Podocarpus urbanii
        section Nemoralis (central and northern South America, south to Bolivia)
            Podocarpus brasiliensis
            Podocarpus celatus
            Podocarpus guatemalensis
            Podocarpus magnifolius
            Podocarpus purdieanus
            Podocarpus trinitensis

    Subgenus Foliolatus
        section Foliolatus (Nepal to Sumatra, Philippines, and New Guinea to Tonga)
        P. neriifolius
            Podocarpus archboldii
            Podocarpus beecherae
            Podocarpus borneensis
            Podocarpus deflexus
            Podocarpus insularis
            Podocarpus levis
            Podocarpus neriifolius
            Podocarpus novae-caledoniae
            Podocarpus pallidus
            Podocarpus rubens
            Podocarpus spathoides
        section Acuminatus (northern Queensland, New Guinea, New Britain, Borneo)
            Podocarpus dispermus
            Podocarpus ledermannii
            Podocarpus micropedunculatus
        section Globulus (Taiwan to Vietnam, Sumatra and Borneo, and New Caledonia)
            Podocarpus annamiensis
            Podocarpus globulus
            Podocarpus lucienii
            Podocarpus nakai
            Podocarpus sylvestris
            Podocarpus teysmannii
        section Longifoliolatus (Sumatra and Borneo, East to Fiji)
            Podocarpus atjehensis
            Podocarpus bracteatus
            Podocarpus confertus
            Podocarpus decumbens
            Podocarpus degeneri
            Podocarpus gibbsii
            Podocarpus longifoliolatus
            Podocarpus polyspermus
            Podocarpus pseudobracteatus
            Podocarpus salomoniensis
        section Gracilis (southern China, across Malesia to Fiji)
            Podocarpus affinis
            Podocarpus glaucus
            Podocarpus lophatus
            Podocarpus pilgeri
            Podocarpus rotundus
        section Macrostachyus (Southeast Asia to New Guinea)
            Podocarpus brassii
            Podocarpus brevifolius
            Podocarpus costalis
            Podocarpus crassigemmis
            Podocarpus tixieri
        section Rumphius (Hainan, south through Malesia to northern Queensland)
            Podocarpus grayii
            Podocarpus laubenfelsii
            Podocarpus rumphii
        section Polystachyus (southern China and Japan, through Malaya to New Guinea and northeast Australia)
            Podocarpus chinensis
            Podocarpus chingianus
            Podocarpus elatus
            Podocarpus fasciculus
            Podocarpus macrocarpus
            Podocarpus macrophyllus
            Podocarpus polystachyus
            Podocarpus ridleyi
            Podocarpus subtropicalis
        section Spinulosus (Southeast and Southwest coasts of Australia)
            Podocarpus drouynianus
            Podocarpus spinulosus


Uses

Several species of Podocarpus are grown as garden trees, or trained into hedges, espaliers, or screens. Common garden species used for their attractive deep green foliage and neat habits include P. macrophyllus, known by its Japanese name Kusamaki, or occasionally as "buddhist pine" or "fern pine", P. salignus from Chile, and for a small shrub with attractive red "berries", P. nivalis. Some members of the genera Nageia, Prumnopitys and Afrocarpus are also still sold mislabeled as Podocarpus. The red, purple or bluish fleshy fruit of most species of Podocarpus are edible, raw or cooked into jams or pies, and they have a mucilaginous texture with a slightly sweet flavor. However, the fruit are slightly toxic and should therefore be eaten sparingly, especially when eaten raw. The timber of P. falcatus is used for floorboards, beams and furniture.

Some species of Podocarpus are used traditionally in their native areas for the treatment of fevers, asthma, coughs, cholera, chest complaints, arthritis, rheumatism, venereal diseases and distemper in dogs.