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Podocarpus
Also called Yellowwood, Podocarp, Yellowwoods, Plum Pines
Podocarpus is a large genus of mostly evergreen conifer trees and shrubs, with about 100 to 116 species, many grown as ornamental garden trees, hedges and screens. The fleshy, berry-like cones attract birds, and the species commonly grown in gardens (such as P. macrophyllus and P. salignus) are the ones to choose for home planting.
Podocarpus () is a large genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the family Podocarpaceae. Podocarpus species are shrubs or trees, usually from 1 to 25 m (3 to 82 ft) tall, known to reach 40 m (130 ft) at times. The cones have two to five fused cone scales, which form a fleshy, berry-like, brightly coloured receptacle at maturity. The fleshy cones attract birds, which then eat the cones and disperse the seeds in their droppings. Plants of the World Online accepts 116 species. Other authorities place 97 to 107 species in the genus depending on the circumscription of the species.
Species are cultivated as ornamental plants for parks and large gardens. The cultivar 'County Park Fire' has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The natural distribution of the genus consists of much of Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, and several South Pacific islands. The genus occurs from southern Chile north to Mexico in the Americas and from New Zealand north to Japan in the Asia-Pacific region. As recently as the Late Pliocene, Podocarpus had a range in the Northern United States.
The earliest use of P. elongatus dates back to the southern African Middle Stone Age where it was used to produce an adhesive by distillation. Today, several species of Podocarpus are grown as garden trees, or trained into hedges, espaliers, or screens. In the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, Podocarpus trees (misspelled as "protocarpus") were used on Isla Nublar, Costa Rica, to conceal electric fences from visitors. Common garden species used for their attractive deep-green foliage and neat habits include P. macrophyllus, known commonly as Buddhist pine, fern pine, or kusamaki, P. salignus from Chile, and P. nivalis, a smaller, red-fleshy-coned shrub. Some members of the genera Nageia, Prumnopitys, and Afrocarpus are marketed under the genus name Podocarpus.
Podocarpus aristulatus · Arius · Brown Pine · Breede River Yellowwood · Henkel's Yellowwood · Broad-leaved Yellowwood · Podocarpus laubenfelsii · Mountain Plum Pine · Yew plum pine · Brown Pine · Alpine Totara · Chilean podocarp
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Podocarpus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
