I have not found any images of the plant in habitat; this scan from an 1846 collection is the earliest available online. The gallery page at GBIF contains quite a few good scans of herbarium sheets.
I have not found any images of the plant in habitat; this scan from an 1846 collection is the earliest available online. The gallery page at GBIF contains quite a few good scans of herbarium sheets.
Podocarpus salicifolius
Pinabete [Spanish, Portuguese].
Type: Venezuela, Cordillera de la Costa, Distrito Federal, Gran Colombia, H. Karsten s.n. (holo W, destroyed; iso LE, but I can find no record of it at that herbarium). Syn: Nageia salicifolia (Klotzsch et H. Karst. ex Endl.) Kuntze 1891; Podocarpus pittieri J. Buchholz & N.E. Gray 1948 (Farjon 2010).
Podocarpus salicifolius does not seem to have been addressed in any systematic studies. Though Buchholz and Gray (1948, as P. pittieri) and de Laubenfels (1985) placed it within an infrageneric hierarchy, such hierarchies have generally not found molecular support in studies of Podocarpus, as discussed for Podocarpus. The molecular studies have tended to place geographically proximal species into shared clades, so we might expect that this species would be grouped with other Podocarpus of the Guiana Highlands, i.e. P. acuminatus, P. aracensis, P. buchholzii, P. celatus, P. magnifolius, P. pendulifolius, P. roraimae, P. steyermarkii, and P. tepuiensis.
Dioecious trees to 30 m tall and 80 cm dbh, with a broad crown of spreading or ascending branches. Bark first thin, brown, smooth, with age becoming shallowly fissured, exfoliating in small strips, weathering gray; inner bark pinkish. Twigs stout and round. Foliage buds conical with spreading, long-acuminate scales to 12 × 4 mm, margins scarious; sometimes elongated and resembling leaves up to 25 mm long. Leaves petiolate, usually drooping, 80-130 × 8-12 mm (up to 230 × 17 mm on saplings), straight or falcate, linear-lanceolate, lax in texture, green above, pale green below, margins flat, upper midrib somewhat raised, sometimes fading toward apex, lower midrib basally raised, apex acute. Pollen cones axillary, sessile, solitary, 40-80 × 3.5-4.5 mm. Seed cones axillary on 10-25 mm peduncles, solitary, receptacles when ripe 8-12 × 5-7 mm, dark green ripening dark purple; seed within epimatium ovoid-globose, 10 mm long, with a distal crest (Farjon 2010).
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela; found at elevations of 1200-2150 m in upper montane rainforest or cloud forest (Farjon 2010).
The IUCN has assigned this species a conservation status of "Least Concern" based on its wide geographic distribution, the absence of evidence for steep or rapid population declines, and its occurrence in a variety of protected areas (Farjon 2013). However, remarkably little is known about geographic distribution, status or threats. There have been few collections; a review of the 63 occurrences currently (2023.02.04) documented on GBIF finds quite a few extralimital records, with a remaining 50 collections in habitat, spanning the timeframe 1844-2000 and no collections at all since 2000. Only one collection is from Bolivia, with none from Brazil or Peru, which suggests that the reported range is optimistic. Since 1970 there have only been 10 collections with geographic coordinates, with 8 of the 10 confined to a coastal strip of Venezuela. These data suggest that a large fraction of the population may be confined to a rather small area. There are also are no iNaturalist observations; the species is likely logged with other Podocarpus species but is not tracked; and there are no genetic, population, or ecological studies. Its conservation status is very near to "Data Deficient".
No data as of 2023.02.04.
No uses are reported, but as it shares stature and habitat with other Podocarpus species of the South American rainforests, it is likely subject to similar uses: local use for timber, construction, furniture, tools, and firewood, along with some level of commercial logging.
No suitable locales are recorded. Of 50 collections within the species' reported range, 1 is from Bolivia, 8 from Colombia, the rest from Venezuela; the odds of successfully finding it outside of Venezuela are slim. Collections since 1970 that have some location information attached are as follows:
The epithet means "leaf similar to that of Salix", a willow.
Buchholz, J. T. and N. E. Gray. 1948. A Taxonomic Revision of Podocarpus. IV. The American Species of Section Eupodocarpus, Sub-Sections C and D. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 29:123-151 (p. 130). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.02.04.
Endlicher, S.L. 1847. Synopsis Coniferarum, p. 209. Scheitlin und Zollikofer, Sangalli (Sankt Gallen). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.02.04.
Farjon, A. 2013. Podocarpus salicifolius. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T42530A2985494. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42530A2985494.en, accessed 2023.02.04.
The species page at POWO.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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