Podocarpus madagascariensis

Scientific name: Podocarpus madagascariensis J.G. Baker 1885

Synonyms:Nageia madagascariensis (Baker) Kuntze

Common names: Madagascar yellowwood, Hetatra, Tsindrodravina (Malagasy)

Description

Tree to 13 m tall, or sometimes much taller. Twigs shallowly grooved between the greatly elongated, attached leaf bases. Resting buds slightly squashed from spherical, with tightly overlapping, raised bud scales. Leaves spreading evenly around and along the twigs or concentrated near the tips, standing out stiffly or conspicuously drooping, lasting 1-2 years, leathery, dark green above, paler beneath, (4-)7-12(-13) cm long, (4-)6-10-12) mm wide. Blades clearly widest at the middle and tapering gradually toward both the sharply to bluntly pointed tip and the very short stalked base, the edges a little rolled under. Midrib scarcely protruding above and strongly so beneath, with three resin canals beneath the midvein and one at the outer corner on each side, the interior tissue of the leaf largely taken up with strengthening sclereids and fibers. Pollen cones (1.2-)2-3.5(-5) cm long and (2.5-)3-4.5(-6) mm wide, one to three directly in the leaf axils or at the tip of a short, smooth stalk to 3 mm long. Pollen scales with a slightly toothed, upright tip in the shape of an equilateral triangle or a little narrower, the tip 0.5-1.5 mm long and 0.7-1 mm wide. Seed cones on a variable, bare stalk (6-)15-30(-40) mm long, without basal bracteoles, the reproductive part with three slightly unequal bracts, these and the axis becoming slightly swollen and leathery, 5-8 mm long by 7-8 mm thick. Fertile seed scale one, the combined seed coat and epimatium very fleshy, blackish, and 20-23(-28) mm long by 12-18 mm thick, weakly crested but enough so to make the seed appear slightly flattened.

Through-out the mountainous spine of Madagascar (hence the scientific name), from the Massif du Tsaratanana in the north to the Massif de Beampingaratra in the south: in wet, mossy montane forests on various substrates of ridge tops and slopes; 800-2,000(-2,400) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Near Threatened

(The area of occupancy of this species is uncertain; it is estimated here to be in excess of 2,000 km² but locality records from herbarium specimens are likely to be incomplete. Decline due to deforestation in the lowlands and logging of the trees of this species in these forests is ongoing. On this basis this species is assessed as Near Threatened)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland

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