An image of the lectotype is available at POWO. Note that "A" is the lectotype and "B", foliage from a juvenile tree, is a paratype.
An image of the lectotype is available at POWO. Note that "A" is the lectotype and "B", foliage from a juvenile tree, is a paratype.
Podocarpus celatus
Cinqui-masé.
Type: Bolivia, Potosi, Morro. R. W. Pearce s.n. "B" (lectotype K). The molecular analysis by Knopf et al. (2011), which included 57 species of Podocarpus, grouped P. celatus with the other tropical American species in the genus, and placed it sister to P. oleifolius.
Trees to 30 m tall and 60 cm dbh, typically in closed-canopy forests with sparse branches forming an open, spreading crown. Bark thin, fibrous, exfoliating in small strips and flakes, reddish-brown, weathering gray. Twigs slender, round, finely grooved, bearing conical terminal buds with short triangular acuminate scales 4-6 mm long; outer scales free at apex; inner scales more or less imbricate. Leaves on saplings much larger than on mature trees, 12-18 × 1.7-2.3 cm, lanceolate-acuminate, thin, lax, light green. Leaves on mature trees thin-coriaceous, dark green above and pale green beneath, 4.5-7.5 × 0.8-1.5 cm, elliptic to lanceolate, straight or slightly falcate, more or less abruptly narrowing to a short-petiolate base, margins flat, abruptly or gradually tapering to an acute apex; midrib on upper side a shallow groove, fading towards apex; on lower side raised and continuous to apex. Stomata very small, in intermittent lines on either side of lower midrib. Pollen cones axillary, solitary, sessile, cylindrical, 20-35 mm long, creamish white when mature. Seed cones axillary, solitary on a 4-10 mm peduncle; receptacles 7-9 mm long, slightly swollen and red when mature. Seed within the epimatium subglobose, 9-12 × 8-10 mm, with a small apiculus, green. Seed globose with a lustrous, finely pitted brown seed coat (Farjon 2010).
This species closely resembles P. magnifolius, but the vegetative buds have shorter scales and the seeds, which lack a crest, are globose (Farjon 2010).
Bolivia: Potosí; Brazil: Goiás, Mato Grosso, Colombia; Ecuador; Peru: Amazonas, Junin, Loreto, Montaña, Puno; Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Tachira. Grows at elevations of 350-1400 meters in lowland to low montane tropical evergreen rainforest (Farjon 2010, 2013). In Bolivia, common associates include Lauraceae spp., Melastomataceae spp., Myrtaceae spp., Dictyocaryum lamarckianum, and Helicostylis tomentosa (Alanes Romero 2012).
The IUCN classifies this species as "Least Concern" due to its wide distribution, with many widely distributed populations. However, logging and the conversion of forest to other land use (agriculture; mainly coca cultivation in Bolivia) are causing a continuing decline (Farjon 2013, Alanes Romero 2012).
No data as of 2023.01.07.
Aboriginal use not reported. Although its harvest is not documented, P. celatus grows in lowland and montane forest that is being actively logged, and is sometimes a large tree; therefore it is being exploited for timber. The wood is suitable for general construction use such as buildings and furniture (Farjon 2010).
See the collection records on iNaturalist.
The epithet is Latin, "concealed", due to the species not previously being recognized as distinct from P. magnifolius.
As of early 2023, the available information on this numerous and widespread species is remarkably scanty. There are only a few geolocated occurrences, there seem to be no photos of plants in habitat, it has not been the subject of any research other than a few studies addressing South American podocarps in general, and it is not recorded in the collections of any botanical garden or arboretum.
Alanes Romero, Daniel. 2012. Tratamiento taxonómico y distribución potencial de las especies de podocarpaceae en Bolivia. PhD dissertation, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia.
de Laubefels, D.J. Podocarpaceae. 1982. Flora de Venezuela 11(2):7-41 (p. 35). [not online]
Farjon, Aljos. 2013. Podocarpus celatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T42493A2982839. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42493A2982839.en, accessed 2023.01.06.
Veblen, Thomas T., Juan J. Armesto, Bruce R. Burns, Thomas Kitzberger, Antonio Lara, Blanca Leon, and R. Young. 2005. The Coniferous Forests of South America. Pp. 701-725 in Ecosystems of the World 6: Coniferous Forests, edited by F. Anderson. Elsevier.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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