Cladogram of the Caribbean species of Podocarpus, revised from Figure 1 of Nieto-Blázquez et al. (2020) to only show the Caribbean clade and the geography of the Caribbean species.
Location of the two ecological reserves that hold the extant populations of P. angustifolius; Figure 1 from Testé et al. (2021).
I have not found any photographs of living plants. Mill (2015) provides excellent line drawings.
Podocarpus angustifolius
Espuela de caballero, sabina cimarrona [Spanish] (Mill 2015).
No synonyms. Lectotype Cuba, prov. Artemisa, mun. Bahia Honda, Charco Azul, Wright 3188 (Mill 2015). Note that since Mill (2015) was the first to thoroughly sort out the differences between Greater Antilles species of Podocarpus, earlier accounts of P. angustifolius tend to conflate it with other Caribbean podocarps, especially with P. aristulatus, P. buchii, P. ekmanii and P. victorinanus.
Caribbean species of Podocarpus: There are 9 species of Podocarpus native to the Caribbean. Their systematics have long been a puzzle that seems to have largely been sorted out by Mill (2015), who ably reviews extensive earlier work in the field, and whose taxonomy I follow here. Mill (2015) had limited molecular data to work with, but 8 of the 9 taxa (excluding P. victorinianus, which is almost certainly allied to the other Cuban species) are included in the analysis by Nieto-Blázquez et al. (2020) (see cladogram at right). That analysis found a monophyletic clade in the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica; and a paraphyletic clade that include two Caribbean species (P. coriaceus of the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico, and P. trinitensis of Trinidad and Tobago), as well as species from South America (P. sellowii, P. ballivianensis) and Central America (P. guatemalensis, P. matudae). The molecular analysis estimates radiation of the Greater Antilles species from a common ancestor at about the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, with separation of the Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles/Central America/South America clade in the early Oligocene.
Slow-growing dioecious evergreen tree to 8 m tall and 30 cm dbh, with a pyramidal crown (when young). Bark smooth, peeling; outer bark grayish brown to light brown; inner bark reddish or purplish; wood straw-colored. Twigs usually dense on the branch, diverging at 37-60°, 10-105 mm long, straight. Twigs of first and second years greenish, of third year light grayish brown. Terminal buds ovoid, 2-4 × 1.1-2.6 mm; ca. 8 bud scales in two series, longer than bud diameter, all subequal in length, 1.5-2.5 × 0.5-0.7 mm (outer broader than inner), oblong to lanceolate, greenish brown, tips erect and directed slightly inwards, not keeled, erose-margined. Leaves (only adult ones are known) initially present on but later falling from first- and second-order branches, spirally arranged, 2-4 mm apart, with a very short, decurrent petiole, somewhat twisted at attachment, spreading at 30-60°, red or purplish when flushing, soon changing to yellowish green and finally grayish to dark green above and slightly paler beneath, linear-elliptic, 22-60 × 2.3-4.8 mm, 7-17 times as long as broad, semi-coriaceous but flexible, margins not or slightly revolute or thickened, matte above and beneath; midrib raised proximally beneath but not above, obscure in distal 1/3 above, without associated grooves or ridges; apex asymmetric, acuminate, pungent-aristate, the arista 1.2-3.3 mm; base asymmetric, attenuate. Pollen cones 1-3 per fertile branchlet, lateral on previous year’s growth, just above bud scale scars, each subtending a foliage leaf or arising just above one, solitary or less commonly paired, ripe at leaf flushing. Basal scales ca. 6 in two series, suberect, keeled, rhombic, 0.8-1.1 × 0.5-0.7 mm, apex obtuse. Individual cones pedicellate, the pedicel narrow, very short (ca. 1 mm), straight, cones brownish, purplish or violet, narrow-cylindrical or narrow-ellipsoid, 7-12 × 2.1-2.6 mm, shedding from base to apex. Pollen white or cream. Seed cones borne on previous year’s growth, solitary but grouped together, lateral on ultimate branchlets. Ovules somewhat hidden amongst dense foliage, distinctly pedunculate; peduncle 4-6 mm, shorter than both total fruiting structure and receptacle, compressed, enveloped by a cylinder of bracts; basal scales absent. Receptacle of 2 fused bracts, asymmetrical, obovoid. Epimatium stomatiferous, cleft at summit, violet and glaucous when immature becoming greenish olive to dark brown when ripe and rugose. Seed asymmetrically placed on receptacle, 8-8.5 × 4.3-4.5 mm, ellipsoid, laterally compressed, crested; crest conical, flattened, 1-1.5 × 1.2-2.5 mm, truncate; seed not beaked at micropylar end. New leaves flushing from April to June (prior to and during early wet season); pollen cones shedding from April to June (early wet season), synchronised with leaf flushing; seed cones receptive March/April (and perhaps later), towards end of dry season; cones ripe January-March(-April) of following season, i.e. at least 12 months later; maturation is towards the end of the dry season. Dispersal occurs from mid- to late April (Mill 2015).
Among the Cuban species of Podocarpus, P. angustifolius has the most linear leaves with highest length:width ratio. Plants from central Cuba tend to have shorter leaves than those from Pinar del Rio and Artemisa and approach Podocarpus aristulatus of eastern Cuba. P. angustifolius has more acuminate leaf tips than P. aristulatus whose leaf tips are usually acute or short-acuminate (Mill 2015).
Cuba (western and central): Pinar del Río, Artemisa, and Sancti Spiritus. It has been extirpated at most of its former localities in Pinar del Río and Artemisa. It is now known from a 1999 collection in Pinar del Rio, a single tree in Sierra de Trinidad, and a population in Sancti Spiritus (at least some of which has been planted as part of a restoration program). It is found at 450-900 m elevation, on limestone and shallow ferrolitic soils, in seasonally dry semi-deciduous mesophyll forest and wet humid montane rainforest. Its extirpation from much of Pinar del Rio is due to the proliferation of coffee plantations since the mid-1800s. In Sancti Spiritus, where the only major remaining population is found, the forest has an overstory of trees such as Cyrilla racemiflora, Gordonia angustifolia, G. wrightii, Magnolia cubensis, Myrsine coriacea, Ocotea cuneata, O. floribunda, and O. leucoxylon. The understory includes the trees Alchornea latifolia, Clusia tetrastigma, Garrya fadyenii, Gomidesia lindeniana, Miconia punctata, and Matayba domingensis, as well as the tree fern Cyathea arborea. The flora here features montane elements from eastern Cuba and the limestone karst elements partly from Pinar del Rio, which may explain this disjunct population so far from Pinar del Rio (Mill 2015).
Distribution data for all species native to the Caribbean, based on confirmed specimens cited by Mill (2015), using data from herbarium sheets. Data include both latitude/longitude and narrative location descriptions; coordinate uncertainty generally <5000 m. Podocarpus angustifolius shown in olive green.
In an analysis that likely included at least two Cuban species of Podocarpus, Biffin et al. (2011, Table S5) determined that the species grow at elevations of 400 ±240 m. Mean annual temperature is 23.3°C, with an average minimum in the coldest month of 15.7°C, and a mean annual precipitation of 1660 mm.
The IUCN assesses P. angustifolius as "Vulnerable" but this is based on conflating this species with at least two other species of Caribbean podocarps. Mill (2015), who has prepared many of the IUCN conservation assessments for conifers, assesses the species as "Critically Endangered", in accordance with evaluation by Cuban biologists familiar with the species. Populations have declined recently due to over-exploitation of the wood to make ornaments and other items, and the species is highly vulnerable to habitat loss and degradation. Testé et al. (2021) concur with the "Critically Endangered" assessment; their work inventoried all known populations of the species, finding a total of 575 individuals, 174 of which were reproductively mature, and most of which were in the Lomas de Banao Ecological Reserve. The extent of occurrence was 126 km² and the area of occupancy was 6.0 km². All extant naturally-regenerated P. angustifolius are within two protected areas, either in rainforest relicts or in coffee plantations.
No data as of 2023.01.13.
None are definitely known. Podocarpus in Cuba is generally used for poles and posts, craftwood, and occasionally ornamental plantings; usually, the species of Podocarpus involved is uncertain (Farjon 2010, Mill 2015).
No data as of 2023.01.13.
The epithet angustifolius means "narrow leaves."
Grisebach, A. H. R. 1866. Catalogus plantarum cubensium exhibens collectionem Wrightianam aliasque minores ex insula Cuba missas, p. 217. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.01.12.
Mill, R. R. 2015. A monographic revision of the genus Podocarpus (Podocarpaceae): II. The species of the Caribbean bioregion. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 72 (1): 61-185. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960428614000328.
Nieto-Blázquez, María Esther, Lourdes Peña-Castillo, and Julissa Roncal. 2020. Historical biogeography of Caribbean Podocarpus does not support the progression rule. Journal of Biogeography 48. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14034.
Testé, Ernesto, Majela Hernández, Eldis R. Bécquer, Oliver Valle, and Luis Roberto González-Torres. 2021. Conservation status and recovery of Podocarpus angustifolius: a threatened tree of Cuba. Oryx 56(2):1-3, DOI: 10.1017/S0030605321000144.
No data as of 2023.01.13.
Last Modified 2023-03-07
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