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Podocarpus
''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. ''Podocarpus'' species are evergreen shrubs or trees, usually from tall, known to reach 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.Earle, Chris J.''Podocarpus''.The Gymnosperm Database. 2013. 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. Etymology The name comes from Greek ''poús'' meaning "foot" and ''karpós'' meaning "fruit". Names Common names for various species include "ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podocarpus Macrophyllus
''Podocarpus macrophyllus'' is a conifer in the genus ''Podocarpus'', family Podocarpaceae. It is the northernmost species of the genus, native to southern Japan and southern and eastern China. Common names in English include yew plum pine, Buddhist pine, fern pine and Japanese yew. and are Japanese names for this tree. In China, it is known as ''luóhàn sōng'' (), which literally means "arhat pine". Description It is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree, reaching tall. The leaves are strap-shaped, long, and about 1 cm broad, with a central midrib. The cones are borne on a short stem, and have two to four scales, usually only one (sometimes two) fertile, each fertile scale bearing a single apical seed 10–15 mm. When mature, the scales swell up and become reddish purple, fleshy, and berry-like, 10–20 mm long; they are then eaten by birds, which disperse the seeds in their droppings. ''P. macrophyllus'' occurs in forests, open thickets, and roadsides fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podocarpus Elatus
''Podocarpus elatus'', known as the plum pine, the brown pine, the Illawarra plum or the Queensland Christmas tree, is a species of ''Podocarpus'' endemic to the east coast of Australia, in eastern New South Wales and eastern Queensland. It is a medium to large evergreen tree growing to 30–36 m tall with a trunk up to 1.5 m diameter. The leaves are lanceolate, 5–15 cm long (to 25 cm long on vigorous young trees) and 6–18 mm broad. The seed cones are dark blue-purple, berry-like, with a fleshy base 2-2.5 cm diameter bearing a single oval or globose seed 1 cm in diameter. Uses The fleshy part of the seed cone is edible, used in condiments. The timber was prized for furniture, joinery, boat planking, lining and piles in salt water. ''Podocarpus elatus'' is an attractive ornamental tree. In older Australian suburbs, the plum pine is used as an ornamental street tree, such as at Baldry Street, Chatswood. The fruit has been used as a suitable alternativ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podocarpus Totara
''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to . Tōtara is commonly found in lowland areas where the soil is fertile and well drained. Its Māori name comes from the Proto-Polynesian word *''tootara'' (related to the word ''tara'' lit. ' thorn') which when passed down to descendant languages refer to spiny creatures, especially the porcupinefish (''Diodon hystrix'') due to its spiky leaves. The spelling "totara" without the ''tohutō'' is also common in English. Description The tōtara is a medium to large tree, which grows slowly to around exceptionally to ; it is noted for its longevity and the great girth of its trunk. The bark peels off in papery flakes, with a purplish to golden brown hue. The sharp, dull-green, needle-like leaves are stiff and leathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podocarpus Elongatus
''Podocarpus elongatus'', the Breede River yellowwood, is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. In contrast to other yellowwood species of southern Africa, ''Podocarpus elongatus'' often resembles an enormous, round, multi-stemmed bush in its habit. The Breede River yellowwood is a protected tree in South Africa. Description It can be distinguished from the other yellowwood species of Southern Africa by its relatively elongated, grey-blue leaves (hence its species name ''"elongatus"''), and by its round, bushy shape. Note however, that '' Podocarpus henkelii'' was not described until after the name ''Podocarpus elongatus'' was established, and its leaves are decidedly longer, which might lead to some confusion. ''Podocarpus elongatus'' generally grows about as wide as it is tall, and its foliage reaches very low, roughly resembling a hut in habit. Range and habit It occurs only in South Africa, where it is restricted to the Breede River valley in the Western Cape an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Press. . It contains 20 genera if ''Phyllocladus'' is included and ''Manoao'' and ''Sundacarpus'' are recognized. The family achieved its maximum diversity in the Cenozoic, making the Podocarpaceae family one of the most diverse in the southern hemisphere. The family is a classic member of the Antarctic flora, with its main centres of diversity in Australasian realm, Australasia, particularly New Caledonia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and to a slightly lesser extent Malesia and South America (primarily in the Andes Mountains). Several genera extend north of the equator into Indochina and the Philippines. ''Podocarpus'' reaches as far north as southern Japan and southern China in Asia, and Mexico in the Americas, and ''Nageia'' into southern Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conifer Cone
A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, : strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, but can be fleshy and berry-like. The cone of Pinophyta (conifer clade) contains the reproductive structures. The woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cone, which produces pollen, is usually ephemeral and much less conspicuous even at full maturity. The name "cone" derives from Greek ''konos'' (pine cone), which also gave name to the geometric cone. The individual plates of a cone are known as ''scales''. In conifers where the cone develops over more than one year (such as pines), the first year's growth of a seed scale on the cone, showing up as a protuberance at the end of the two-year-old scale, is called an ''umbo'', while the second year's growth is called th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many different species, the unique feature of evergreen plants lends itself to various environments and purposes. Evergreen species There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, including trees, shrubs, and vines. Evergreens include: * Most species of conifers (e.g., pine, Tsuga, hemlock, spruce, and fir), but not all (e.g., larch). * Live oak, holly, and "ancient" gymnosperms such as cycads * Many woody plants from frost-free climates * Rainforest trees * All eucalypts * Lycopodiopsida, Clubmosses and relatives * Most bamboos The Latin binomial term , meaning "always green", refers to the evergreen nature of the plant, for instance: :''Cupressus sempervirens'' (a cypress) :''Lonicera sempervirens'' (a honeysuckle) :''Sequoia sempervirens'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only plants that are usable as lumber, or only plants above a specified height. But wider definitions include taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos. Trees are not a monophyletic taxonomic group but consist of a wide variety of plant species that have independently evolved a trunk and branches as a way to tower above other plants to compete for sunlight. The majority of tree species are angiosperms or hardwoods; of the rest, many are gymnosperms or softwoods. Trees tend to be long-lived, some trees reaching several thousand years old. Trees evolved around 400 million years ago, and it is estimated that there are around three trillion mature trees in the world currently. A tree typically has many secondary branches supported cle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophytes during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants, or from the male Conifer cone, cone to the female cone of gymnosperms. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it Germination, germinates, producing a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule containing the female gametophyte. Individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is highly useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology, and Forensic science, forensics. Pollen in plants is used for transferring Ploidy#Haploid and monoploid, haploid male genetic ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monoecy
Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contrasted with dioecy where individual plants produce cones or flowers of only one sex and with bisexual or hermaphroditic plants in which male and female gametes are produced in the same flower. Monoecy often co-occurs with anemophily, because it prevents self-pollination of individual flowers and reduces the probability of self-pollination between male and female flowers on the same plant. Monoecy in angiosperms has been of interest for evolutionary biologists since Charles Darwin. Terminology Monoecious comes from the Greek words for one house. History The term monoecy was first introduced in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus. Darwin noted that the flowers of monoecious species sometimes showed traces of the opposite sex function, suggesting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dioecy
Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is biparental reproduction. Dioecy has costs, since only the female part of the population directly produces offspring. It is one method for excluding self-fertilization and promoting allogamy (outcrossing), and thus tends to reduce the expression of recessive deleterious mutations present in a population. Plants have several other methods of preventing self-fertilization including, for example, dichogamy, herkogamy, and self-incompatibility. In zoology In zoology, dioecy means that an animal is either male or female, in which case the synonym gonochory is more often used. Most animal species are gonochoric, almost all vertebrate species are gonochoric, and all bird and mammal species are gonochoric. Dioecy may also describe colonies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
