Podocarpus thevetiifolius
None are known as of 2023.01.23.
Type: Indonesia, Papua Barat, Lobo, 1829, A. Zippelius s.n. (lecto L, isolecto BO) (de Laubenfels 2015). Type specimen with scan at L, accessed 2023.01.23.
Synonymy (POWO 2023):
This taxon was widely accepted from its description through the monographic treatment by Gray (1958), but has been synonymized with Podocarpus polystachyus R.Br. ex Endl. by most later authors (e.g., de Laubenfels [1985] and Farjon [2010]). It was again accepted as a good species by de Laubenfels (2015), evidently on the basis of a single specimen collected in 1828. Thus far, no molecular studies have considered the issue.
Trees to 23 m tall with many sometimes opposite branches. Bark light brown, somewhat fibrous; inner bark lighter brown, sapwood streaked white and yellow. Foliage buds small, ovate-acute; bud scales 1.5 mm long. Leaves crowded near ends of twigs, thinly coriaceous, linear or lanceolate, 25-80 × 5-9 mm, apex acute to obtuse (rarely mucronate), gradually narrowing to a short petiole; upper (adaxial) midrib nearly flat or slightly indented, lower midrib not prominent, margins flat (not revolute) and with a distinct narrow shining line along the margins. Pollen cones unknown. Female cones axillary, solitary, on 3-8 mm peduncles; receptacle twice as thick as the seed, which is ellipsoid, 10 mm. long (Lane-Poole 1924, Gray 1958, de Laubenfels 2015). Since de Laubenfels (2015) seems to have only examined the type specimen, which is sterile, I have also drawn heavily on earlier descriptions.
Indonesia: Papua Barat; Papua New Guinea, Northern Division, Isarava (Gray 1958, de Laubenfels 2015). Lane-Poole (1924) found it on Mt. Obree in January 1923 at elevations of 5500 to 10300 feet (1675 to 3140 m), where "at the top of Mt. Obree this tree forms 50 per cent of the stocking, and here it becomes very dwarfed in height and in girth."
No data as of 2023.01.23.
No recorded uses as of 2023.01.23.
The only specific location I have seen referenced is the summit of Mount Obree, coordinates (-9.517, 148.067), cited above. It does not look like an easy place to get to.
The epithet thevetiifolia means "with leaves like Thevetia", i.e., an oleander. This is the same name origin as Podocarpus neriifolius, where Nerium is a different name for oleander.
Blume, C. L. von. 1847. Rumphia Vol. 3, p. 213. Available: Real Jardín Botánico, accessed 2023.01.23.
Gray, Netta E. 1958. A Taxonomic Revision of Podocarpus, XI. The South Pacific Species of Section Podocarpus, Subsection B. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 39:457. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.01.08.
Lane-Poole, C. E. 1924. The Forest Resources of the Territories of Papua and New Guinea. Commonwealth of Australia (pp. 72-74). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.01.23 (this is quite a good short read, providing practical remarks on the use of most conifers native to New Guinea).
Laubenfels, David J. de. 2015. New sections and species of Podocarpus based on the taxonomic status of P. neriifolius (Podocarpaceae) in tropical Asia. Novon 24(2):133-152. https://doi.org/10.3417/2012091.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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