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Scientific name: Afrocarpus mannii (Hooker f.) C.N. Page 1989
Synonyms: Decussocarpus mannii (Hook.f.) de Laub., Nageia mannii (Hook.f.) Kuntze, Podocarpus mannii Hook.f.
Common names: São Tomé yellow-wood (English), Pinheiro de São Tomé, Pinheiro-da-terra (Portuguese)
Description
Tree to 17 m tall, with trunk to 0.7 m in diameter. Bark smooth, grayish brown to dark gray flaking in irregular patches. Crown conical at first, becoming rounded with slender, rising branches bearing drooping branchlets. Twigs grouped in whorls, bright green at first but soon becoming brown, deeply grooved between the long, attached leaf bases. Resting buds 2.5-3 mm long by about 1.5 mm wide, the tightly overlapping scales with slightly spreading, pointed tips. Leaves widely spaced, slightly drooping, lasting 4 years. Individual needles shiny bright green, (2-)7.5-15(-16) cm long (to 18 cm in seedlings), (4-)7-11(-12) mm wide, nearly straight or with a slight, simple S-shaped curve, widest point variable, from below to beyond the middle, tapering from there gradually or more abruptly to the dawn-out, pointed tip and fairly abruptly to the wedge-shaped base, inserted on the stem essentially without a stalk. Midrib hardly raised either above or beneath, with a single resin canal beneath the midrib, and lines of stomates forming bands on either side both above and beneath. Pollen cones 1.2-2.5 cm long and 2-3.5 mm in diameter, one or two directly in the axils of leaves. Pollen scales with an upturned, broadly triangular, finely toothed tip about 1 mm long and 1.5 mm wide. Seed cones on a leafy stalk to 3 cm long, the reproductive part with two or three bracts, the lowest of which dry up and fall away, the axis hardening somewhat but not becoming at all fleshy or leathery. Fertile seed scale one, the combined seed coat and epimatium shiny reddish brown, pear-shaped, 3-4 cm long by 2-2.5 cm thick, fleshy and resinous surrounding a warty stony layer 4-7 mm thick, slightly grooved along one side.
The species name honors Gustav Mann (1836-1916), a German-born gardener and forester who collected the type material in 1861, during the British Niger Expedition of 1859-1862, and then spent the remainder of his career with the Indian Forest Service.
Restricted to the peak of Sao Tomé Island in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. Scattered in montane rain forest on the slopes of the peak; (500-)1,000-2,000 m.
Conservation Status
Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable
The current population of this species is confined to the Pico de Sao Tomé from above 1,450 m a.s.l. to the summit. This area is less than 25 km2 within which the area of occupancy of Afrocarpus mannii must be substantially smaller than this. It is certainly smaller than the threshold for Vulnerable under D2. As the only known population, it is vulnerable to stochastic events such as volcanic eruptions, fires or severe storms.
The population of this species is naturally small as it is confined to a single mountain. At lower altitudes larger trees have been felled and presumably the number of mature trees has therefore decreased.
Afrocarpus mannii is endemic to the volcano Pico de São Thomé from ca. 1,000 m to the summit area at 2,000 m Asl. It is nowhere a tall tree and at the summit it is reduced to dwarfed krummholz. It is common in the high montane cloud forest where this has remained undisturbed, which appears to be largely the case at least above ca. 1,500 m. Deforestation at lower to middle altitudes on the mountain has been the main threat to this species, which is endemic to the island.
The timber of Afrocarpus mannii is valuable in trees of good size and shape, which have become scarce. It is used for light construction. This species has been planted in rural areas in Cameroon and Ivory Coast and probably elsewhere in West Africa as a canopy tree or windbreak for coffee plantations and as an amenity tree in villages.
The population lies entirely within the Obo National Park. At higher altitudes above 1,500 m there still appears to be a good forest cover, so that under adequate protection trees of this species could grow to size replacing trees logged in the past.
References
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