No illustrations or photos of specimens in habitat appear to exist. This is a photo of an isotype at the New York Botanical Garden (accessed 2023.01.04).
No illustrations or photos of specimens in habitat appear to exist. This is a photo of an isotype at the New York Botanical Garden (accessed 2023.01.04).
Podocarpus aracensis
None are listed in the usual sources. It seems unlikely that native peoples distinguish it from other podocarps in the region. Silba (1990) gave it the common name "Araca podoberry" which seems not to have received any subsequent use.
The species is poorly known, with few herbarium collections (18 records as of early 2023) and no molecular analyses. All tropical South American species analyzed to date share a clade within Podocarpus (Knopf et al. 2011), so it is likely that P. aracensis is in the same group.
Shrubs or trees to 6 m tall and 20 cm dbh. Buds erect, scales elongated and 4-9 mm long by 0.5 mm wide, free at the apex. Foliage densely arranged. Leaves linear, narrow, 2.8-8 cm long by 4.5-7 mm wide, narrowed at the base to a petiole 2-3 mm long, midrib a sunken groove, margins recurved, apex broadly acute. Pollen cone solitary or in small groups, on a scaly peduncle 9 mm long, basal bracts to 2 mm long and acute; pollen cone oblong-cylindric, 17-20 × 2-2.5 mm, solitary or in small groups. Female cones not seen. P. buchholzii is overall similar, but this is the only South American Podocarpus that does not have sessile pollen cones (de Laubenfels and Silba 1988, Silba 1990).
Brazil: Amazonas (Serra do Araçá, Cerro Neblina?); Venezuela: Amazonas (Cerro Yavi and perhaps Murey Tepui [Macizo del Chimantá]); at elevations of ca. 1200 m in Brazil and 2100 m in Venezuela. Occurs on tepuis, along streams in shrubby vegetation or dwarf forest (Farjon 2010, 2013). This GBIF Map (accessed 2023.01.04) shows the locations of the 15 georeferenced collections.
The IUCN has assigned this species a "Least Concern" conservation status. Although its distribution is still very poorly known, still no threats are known to affect this species (Farjon 2013).
No data as of 2023.01.04.
No human use is known; the species is rare and occurs only in remote areas (Farjon 2010).
No records on iNaturalist as of 2023.01.04.
The epithet refers to the type locality, the Serra do Araçá in Brazil.
Farjon, Aljos. 2013. Podocarpus aracensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T42487A2982604. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42487A2982604.en, accessed 2023.01.04.
Laubefels, D. J. de, and John Silba. 1988. Notes on Asian and trans-Pacific Podocarpaceae, II. Phytologia 65(5):330. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2022.12.24.
Barbosa-Silva, Rafael, Marcelo Bueno, Paulo Labiak, Marcus Alberto, Nadruz Coelho, Gustavo Martinelli, and Rafaela Forzza. 2020. The Pantepui in the Brazilian Amazon: Vascular Flora of Serra Do Aracá, a Cradle of Diversity, Richness and Endemism. The Botanical Review 86: 359–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-020-09235-x.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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