''Podocarpus brassii'' is a species of

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

in the family

Podocarpaceae Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pre ...

. It is endemic to the island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, which is divided between

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. ''Podocarpus brassii'' is a

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

species, growing in upper montane evergreen rainforest, subalpine mossy forest, and subalpine and alpine scrubland, and sometimes in or at the edges of boggy alpine grassland, from 2,500 to 4,000 metres elevation. Two varieties are accepted. ''Podocarpus brassii'' var. ''brassii'' is the more common tree form, It often grows as an emergent tree above shrubs between 3,100 and 4,000 meters elevation, around or above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...

, and less often in dense forest as low as 2,700 m where it is a straight-boled tree 25 to 30 metres tall. ''Podocarpus brassii'' var. ''humilis'' is a shrub or small tree. In wet areas it can form dense shrubby mats only 15-30 cm tall and covering up to three square metres.

References

brassii Endemic flora of New Guinea Flora of the Central Range montane rain forests Least concern plants Plants described in 1937 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{conifer-stub