Several photographs of living plants are available at Threatened Conifers of the World, and Mill (2015) provides excellent line drawings.
Several photographs of living plants are available at Threatened Conifers of the World, and Mill (2015) provides excellent line drawings.
Podocarpus hispaniolensis
Palo de cruz, palo de puntella (Mill 2015).
Type: Dominican Republic, Prov. Peravia; 18°43′N, 70°21′W, elevation 1000 m, 1983.02.28, M. Mejía & J. Pimentel 444 (holo JBSD-n.v., iso NY).
Synonymy (Mill 2015):
See Podocarpus angustifolius for notes on phylogenetic relationships between the Caribbean species of Podocarpus.
Dioecious evergreen trees 4-20 m tall and 40-150 cm dbh, typically with a single or forked bole and first-order branches whorled, forming a pyramidal crown that becomes irregular and elliptic to obovoid with age; can be a canopy dominant. Bark smooth, peeling in vertical strips, inconspicuously fissured on mature trees, reddish brown; inner bark reddish or purplish; wood straw colored. Twigs often divaricate; whorled or opposite in one plane, diverging at 45-70°, up to 230 mm long in juveniles, mainly 30-130 mm in adults, straight or slightly flexuous, greenish- to purplish-brown aging to brown in later years. Terminal buds subglobose, 5.5 × 5.5 mm, bud scales ca. 12, 2.6-5.3 × 0.6-1.6 mm, the outer usually shorter and narrower than inner, the outer ones keeled, green; tips of outer scales incurved. Leaves borne on ultimate and penultimate twigs, diverging from axis at 50-90°, flushing reddish purple, soon becoming vivid green, glaucous beneath on stomata. Juvenile and adult foliage very similar; petiole 1-3.5 mm, usually twisted, elliptic to lanceolate, 20-70 × 4-11 mm, 3.3-6.3 times as long as broad, straight to slightly falcate, thick and coriaceous, glossy above, matte beneath, margins narrowly revolute; lower midrib flush to slightly raised and flanked by indistinct striate bands, upper midrib usually impressed in a groove; apex asymmetric, acute, aristate; base asymmetric, cuneate or short-attenuate. Pollen cones 1 or 2 per fertile twig, each solitary and lateral but not axillary, ripe at same time as leaf flushing. Individual cones subsessile, greenish yellow then later pinkish brown, cylindrical, 11-16 × 4-5 mm. Pollen white. Seed cones borne on previous year’s growth, usually in groups of 2-4, peduncle 6-7 mm, conspicuously stomatiferous, without apical bracts, receptacle remaining mostly herbaceous and only a little fleshy or swollen when ripe, asymmetric, 3.5-4.5 mm along longer (abaxial) edge, 3-4.2 mm along shorter (adaxial) edge, 1.4-1.5 mm wide at base, 3.2 mm wide at apex, purplish red ripening red when ripe. Free tips of bracts subequal, not keeled; free tip of fertile bract(s) 1-1.5 × c.1.5 mm, triangular, acute. Epimatium cleft at summit, violet with a glaucous bloom when unripe, greenish when ripe, fleshy, smooth dorsally but with three longitudinal ridges ventrally. Seed inserted slightly asymmetrically on receptacle, ovoid, laterally compressed, 4.4-6.5 × 2.2-3.2 mm, with apical crest. Leaf flushing and cone activity during the summer wet season; seed cones take about 8 months to ripen (Mill 2015).
There are two species of Podocarpus native to Hispaniola, P. buchii and P. hispaniolensis. P. hispaniolensis leaves usually have a distinct groove on the upper (adaxial) surface (Mill 2015).
Hispaniola, i.e. Haiti: Déps. Nord and Artibonite; Dominican Republic: Provs. Elias Piña, La Vega, San José de Ocoa, and Puerta de Plata. In Haiti P. hispaniolensis is only on the Massif du Nord, where P. buchii is absent. In the Dominican Republic it is mainly restricted to the Cordillera Central with outlying isolated records in the Cordillera Septentrional where again it is the only species of Podocarpus. It is found at elevations of 800-1200(-1900) m, i.e. mostly lower than P. buchii, on limestone and iron-rich soils. Its occurrence is in Magnolia pallescens/Schefflera tremula montane rainforests, and Coccoloba pauciflora/Podocarpus hispaniolensis cloud forests of the type known as ‘elfin woodlands’ (bosque enano) (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 hispaniolensis shown in green.
The IUCN reports that this species is "Endangered", facing a high risk of extinction in the near future, due to a limited and severely fragmented population in which there is a continuing decline in the number of mature plants. Its little remaining forest habitat is fragmented due to ongoing forest clearance for agriculture (Gardner 2013).
No data as of 2023.01.07.
Reportedly the wood has been used for posts, axe handles and pestles, and unspecified parts of the plant are used to make medicinal teas. Moreover, "hanging a piece of Palo Cruz in the house is considered a reliable way of keeping witches and bad spirits away" (Holmes 2009, as P. aristulatus). This use may derive from the cross-shaped arrangement of the branches on the shoot (which derives from the whorled first-order branches), and is also the origin of the common name palo de cruz, or "stick of the cross" (Mill 2015).
None reported, apart from the botanical collections cited by Mill (2015), some of which are shown on the map above. Most of these are quite old, though, and the species has likely been extirpated at many of these locations. It may remain extant at the Parca Nacional Nalga de Maco, Reserva Cientifica Ebano Verda, and perhaps in the fairly intact forest along Highway 201 near where it crosses between San José de Ocoa and Monseñor Nouel provinces.
The epithet refers to the island of Hispaniola, where the species is endemic.
Gardner, M. 2013. Podocarpus hispaniolensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T34085A2844486. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T34085A2844486.en, accessed 2023.01.17.
Holmes, George. 2009. Global conservation and local resistance: Power and protected areas in the Dominican Republic. PhD thesis, University of Manchester.
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.
Laubenfels, D.J. de. 1984. Un neuvo Podocarpus (Podocarpaceae) de la Española. Moscosoa 3: 149-150.
The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.
Zanoni, T.A. and Hager, J. 1993. Le Vegetation Natural de la Republica Dominicana; un Neuvo Classification. Moscosoa 3: 39-81.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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