This and other herbarium specimen images are available at GBIF.
There may be some living plant photos available at iNaturalist.
This and other herbarium specimen images are available at GBIF.
There may be some living plant photos available at iNaturalist.
Podocarpus trinitensis
None are recorded (Farjon 2010).
Type: Trinidad and Tobago: Trinidad, St. Andrew County, "Valencia Road", W.E. Broadway 7151 (holo MO) (Farjon 2010).
See Podocarpus_angustifolius for notes on phylogenetic relationships between the Caribbean species of Podocarpus. However, although Trinidad and Tobago are nominally Caribbean islands, geologically they lie on the South American continental shelf and have only been islands for about the past 11,000 years (Schipper 2019). Thus their biogeographical affinities are South American. Molecular analysis has placed P. trinitensis in a clade with P. coriaceus, the most widespread Caribbean species (Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles), as well as P. guatemalensis of Central America and P. sellowii of southern Brazil (Nieto-Blázquez et al. 2020). This is a rather far-flung group and might reflect a history of Quaternary migrations, but it might just indicate that further molecular studies are warranted. Overall patterns of diversity in Podocarpus indicate that related species usually occur in close geographic proximity.
Dioecious evergreen trees to 20 m tall and 80 cm dbh, typically with a single bole, often fluted at the base, and spreading branches that may form a wide crown in mature trees. Bark smooth, exfoliating in small strips, dark brown weathering to gray; inner bark pinkish red. Twigs round, finely grooved, color not recorded. Terminal buds subglobose, with free triangular outer scales and imbricate inner scales. Leaves diminish in size from juvenile and shade foliage to sun foliage; shade foliage 60-100 × 10-15 mm, sun foliage 40-60 × 6-12 mm; leaves short-petiolate, elliptic to oblanceolate, dark green above, pale green below, coriaceous, margins not described, base gradually narrowing, apex acute. Upper midrib raised, prominent, sometimes distally fading; lower midrib flat or forming a shallow groove, flanked by stomata in small, intermittent, irregular lines. Pollen cones axillary, solitary, sessile, cylindrical, up to 2 cm long. Seed cones axillary, short-peduncled, composed of two fused unequal bracts, the receptacle 7-8 × 6 mm when ripe, succulent and red. Seeds within the epimatium ovoid, 7-8 × 5-6 mm, crested or not (Farjon 2010, Buchholz and Gray 1948).
Trinidad-Tobago, primarily known from near the summit of El Tucuche (Farjon 1998), but also recorded from 11 other locations on Trinidad and one on Tobago, where the species is recorded on the south summit of the main ridge on the Mount St. George-Castara Trace. Soils tend to be shallow and nutrient-poor, which may be a factor enabling Podocarpus to compete effectively with angiosperms on these sites (Spiers et al. 2022). It occurs at elevations of 50-600 m (Gardner 2013, Spiers et al. 2022); the vegetation is Trinidad and Tobago Moist Forest (Schipper 2019). The distribution is bimodal, with several populations in the higher elevation regions of the lower montane rainforest (the Northern Range in Trinidad and the Main Ridge in Tobago), and one isolated low elevation population in Trinidad’s Marsh Forest within the Aripo Savanna Environmentally Sensitive Area. This is Trinidad and Tobago's only native conifer (Spiers et al. 2022).
As with many other rainforest podocarps, the species is highly shade tolerant, with seedlings establishing and growing beneath a closed canopy. It is also well adapted to its mountain climate, with lower leaf temperatures and improved physiological performance observed at higher-elevation sites; however, as with many other tropical rainforest trees, it has little ability to adapt to higher temperatures, particularly mean temperatures in excess of 30°C; temperatures of 47-48°C can cause leaf death (Spiers et al. 2022) (curiously this is about the same threshold for foliage heat mortality recorded in many temperate and boreal conifers as well). With tropical forests projected to warm by > 3°C by the end of the 21st century (Masson-Delmotte et al. 2021, as cited by Spiers et al. 2022), this limitation could affect the species' prospects for survival.
The IUCN assesses this species as "Near Threatened" primarily due to its very narrow distribution. There are no major imminent threats, but there are existing issues with illegal harvest and human-caused fires on Trinidad, and such activities could quickly diminish the species if they were to occur in habitat (Gardner 2013). Although P. trinitensis occurs in some protected areas, the actual level of protection for those areas is low due to inadequate protected-area staffing and a lack of public support for natural resource protection (Schipper 2019).
No data as of 2023.01.18.
Although there is no recorded use of the species, its wood, like that of most Podocarpus species, is valuable for construction, furniture, and other uses calling for a strong, attractive, workable timber; thus there has likely been a history of occasional use (Gardner 2013).
Some accessible locations are reported by Spiers et al. (2022). The most popular site is probably El Tucuche, the second-tallest mountain in Trinidad and a popular dayhike; many collections of the species have been made here.
The epithet refers to the island of Trinidad.
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. 135). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.01.19.
Gardner, M. 2013. Podocarpus trinitensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T34105A2845840. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T34105A2845840.en, accessed 2023.01.19.
Masson-Delmotte, Valérie, Panmao Zhai, Anna Pirani, Sarah L. Connors, Clotilde Péan, Sophie Berger, Nada Caud et al. 2021. Climate change 2021: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Nieto-Blázquez, María Esther, Lourdes Peña-Castillo, and Julissa Roncal. 2020. Historical biogeography of Caribbean Podocarpus does not support the progression rule. Journal of Biogeography 48. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14034.
Schipper, Jan. 2019. Trinidad and Tobago Moist Forest. , accessed 2023.01.19.
Spiers, Joshua A., Michael P. Oatham, Luke V. Rostant, and Aidan D. Farrell. 2022.12.31. Determining the ecophysiological limits of a narrow niche tropical conifer tree (Podocarpus trinitensis). Tree Physiology, https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpac151.
Spiers, Joshua A., Michael P. Oatham, Luke V. Rostant, and Aidan D. Farrell. 2018. Applying species distribution modelling to improving conservation based decisions: a gap analysis of Trinidad and Tobago’s endemic vascular plants. Biodiversity and Conservation 27(11):2931-2949.
Stark Schilling, D.M. 2004. Taxonomic studies of Caribbean and Central American species of Podocarpus subgenus Podocarpus. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Edinburgh.
Staszkiewicz, J. 1988. A taxonomic revision of the genus Podocarpus from the Greater and Lesser Antilles. Fragmenta Floristica et Geobotanica 23(1-2): 71-105.
Thomas, P. 2019. Podocarpus trinitensis. Available: Threatened Conifers of the World, accessed 2023.01.19.
Van den Eynden, V., Oatham, M.P. and Johnson, W. 2008. How free access internet resources benefit biodiversity and conservation research: Trinidad and Tobago’s endemic plants and their conservation status. Oryx 42(3): 400-407.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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