Cephalotaxus Saxonica
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''Cephalotaxus'', commonly called plum yew or cowtail pine, is a genus of
conifers Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...
comprising 11 species, either considered the only member of the family Cephalotaxaceae, or in the
Taxaceae Taxaceae (), commonly called the yew family, is a coniferous family (biology), family which includes six Extant taxon, extant and two extinct genera, and about 30 species of plants, or in older interpretations three genera and 7 to 12 species. ...
when that family is considered in a broad sense. The genus is
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to eastern
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
, though
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
evidence shows it had a wider
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
distribution in the past. The species are
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 diffe ...
shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
s and small
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 ...
s reaching (rarely to ) tall.


Description

The
leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
are spirally arranged on the shoots, but twisted at the base to lie in two flat ranks (except on erect leading shoots); they are linear, long and broad, soft in texture, with a blunt tip; this helps distinguish them from the related genus ''
Torreya ''Torreya'' is a genus of conifers comprising six or seven species placed in the family Taxaceae, though sometimes formerly placed in Cephalotaxaceae. Four species are native to eastern Asia; the other two are native to North America. They a ...
'', which has spine-tipped leaves. The species can be either
monoecious 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 contras ...
or
dioecious 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 ...
; when monoecious, the male and female
cones In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the ''apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, ...
are often on different branches. The male (
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 ...
) cones are long, grouped in lines along the underside of a shoot. The female (
seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...
) cones are single or grouped two to 15 together on short stems; minute at first, they mature in about 18 months to a
drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...
-like structure with the single large
nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed * Nut (food), a dry and edible fruit or seed, including but not limited to true nuts * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut, NUT or Nuts may also refer to: A ...
-like seed long surrounded by a fleshy covering, green to purple at full maturity. Natural dispersal is thought to be aided by
squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...
s which bury the seeds for a winter food source; any seeds left uneaten are then able to germinate.


Phytochemistry

''Cephalotaxus'' species produce cephalotaxine, an
alkaloid Alkaloids are a broad class of natural product, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large varie ...
. Parry et al 1980 provides evidence that cephalotaxine is a phenylethylisoquinoline. However, they also find this genus to be unable to incorporate
cinnamic acid Cinnamic acid is an organic compound with the formula phenyl, C6H5-CH=CH-Carboxylic acid, COOH. It is a white crystalline compound that is slightly soluble in water, and freely soluble in many organic solvents. Classified as an unsaturated carboxy ...
into cephalotaxine, and incorporation of cinnamic acid is usually a step in phenylethylisoquinoline syntheses, throwing the phenylethylisoquinoline theory in to question.


Phylogeny

Molecular studies place ''Cephalotaxus'' as the most basal member of the
Taxaceae Taxaceae (), commonly called the yew family, is a coniferous family (biology), family which includes six Extant taxon, extant and two extinct genera, and about 30 species of plants, or in older interpretations three genera and 7 to 12 species. ...
, having a very ancient divergence from them during the late
Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
. Historically, it was placed as the only member of the family Cephalotaxaceae, due to strong morphological differences from other members of Taxaceae, but major authorities consider the family synonymous with Taxaceae.


Extant species

The taxonomy of ''Cephalotaxus'' is difficult, because the species have been defined using characteristics that intergrade with each other, such as the length and shape of needles, bark, and stomatal band color. ''Cephalotaxus'' species have often been separated geographically rather than morphologically.


Fossil record

The oldest fossils of ''Cephalotaxus'' are known from the
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
of
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
in northeast China and the
Messel Pit The Messel Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene Epoch (geology), epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlie ...
of Germany. The youngest fossils of ''Cephalotaxus'' in Europe date to the
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
of western North America. *'' Cephalotaxus akitaensis'' - leafy twigs; Miocene,
Utto Formation The Blessed Utto was the first abbot of the Bavarian Metten Abbey of the Benedictine Order. His feast is celebrated on October 3. Biography Utto was presumably a monk at the abbey of Reichenau; his place of birth is unknown. According to tradi ...
, Akita Prefecture, Japan *''
Cephalotaxus biumbonata ''Cephalotaxus'', commonly called plum yew or cowtail pine, is a genus of conifers comprising 11 species, either considered the only member of the family Cephalotaxaceae, or in the Taxaceae when that family is considered in a broad sense. The gen ...
'' - seeds; Pliocene,
Toki, Gifu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Gifu Prefecture, Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 58,567 in 24,485 households, and a population density of 500 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Toki is known as one of ...
, Japan *'' Cephalotaxus bonseri'' - leafy twigs; Miocene,
Latah Formation The Latah Formation is a series of Miocene, late Miocene Lake, lacustrine sedimentary deposits which outcrop in Washington (U.S. state), eastern Washington and Idaho, northwestern Idaho. The lake beds are interbedded with igneous rock of the Co ...
, Washington, US *'' Cephalotaxus bowerbankii'' - seeds; Eocene,
London Clay The London Clay Formation is a Sediment#Shores and shallow seas, marine formation (geology), geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 54-50 million years ago) age which outcrop, crops out in the southeast of England. The London C ...
, Isle of Sheppey, England *'' Cephalotaxus californica'' - leafy twigs; Oligocene, La Porte flora, California, US *'' Cephalotaxus cretacea'' - leafy twigs; Cretaceous, Aldan River, Yakutia, Russia *'' Cephalotaxus eigensis'' - leafy twigs; Miocene, Schönau-Berzdorf, Saxony, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus europaea'' - leafy twigs; Miocene, Görlitz; Czech Republic *'' Cephalotaxus francofurtana'' - seeds; Pliocene, Klärbecken Flora, Niederrad, Frankfurt am Main, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus loossi'' - seeds; Pliocene, Klärbecken Flora, Niederrad, Frankfurt am Main, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus messelensis'' - leafy twigs; Eocene,
Messel Formation The Messel Formation is a geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlies crystalline Variscan basement and ...
, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hessen, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus microphylla'' - leafy twigs; Cretaceous, Salisbury Island, Arkhangelsk, Russia *'' Cephalotaxus miocenica'' - seeds; Miocene, Nowa Wieś Królewska, Województwo opolskie, Poland *''
Cephalotaxus multiserialis ''Cephalotaxus'', commonly called plum yew or cowtail pine, is a genus of conifers comprising 11 species, either considered the only member of the family Cephalotaxaceae, or in the Taxaceae when that family is considered in a broad sense. The gen ...
'' - leafy twigs; Miocene, Düren Kreis, Rhine-Westphalia, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus obovata'' - seeds; Pliocene, Toge, Hyogo, Japan *'' Cephalotaxus parvifolia'' - leafy twigs; Oligocene, Seifhennersdorf, Sachsen, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus pliocaenica'' - leafy twigs; Pliocene, Klärbecken Flora, Niederrad, Frankfurt am Main, Germany *''
Cephalotaxus rotundata ''Cephalotaxus'', commonly called plum yew or cowtail pine, is a genus of Pinophyta, conifers comprising 11 species, either considered the only member of the family Cephalotaxaceae, or in the Taxaceae when that family is considered in a broad sen ...
'' - seeds; Pliocene, Klärbecken Flora, Niederrad, Frankfurt am Main, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus saxonica'' - leafy twigs; Eocene, Phönix-Nord, Sachsen, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus stoeckleinorum'' - leafy twigs; Miocene, Achldorf, Bavaria, Germany *'' Cephalotaxus yubariensis'' - leafy twigs; Eocene, Ikushunbetsu Formation, Yubari River, Hokkaido, Japan


References


External links


Gymnosperm Database
*Photos

{{Taxonbar, from=Q933520 Conifer genera