Phyllocladus
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''Phyllocladus'', the celery pines, is a small
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of conifers, now usually placed in the
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Podocarpaceae.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Timber Press: Portland, OR, USA. .'' ''Species occur mainly in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, and
Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ...
in the Southern Hemisphere, though '' P. hypophyllus ''ranges into the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, a short way north of the
equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...
.


Characteristics

They are small to medium-sized
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 10–30 m tall, or sometimes small
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. The main structural shoots are green for 2–3 years, then turn brown as the bark thickens. 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 sparse, tiny, scale-like, 2–3 mm long, and only green (
photosynthetic Photosynthesis ( ) is a Biological system, system of biological processes by which Photoautotrophism, photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical ener ...
) for a short time, soon turning brown. Most photosynthesis is performed by highly modified, leaf-like short shoots called phylloclades; these develop in the axils of the scale leaves, and are simple or compound (depending on species). Simple phylloclades are rhombic, 2–5 cm long, and compound phylloclades are up to 20 cm long and subdivided into five to 15 leaflet-like phylloclades 1–3 cm long. The seed cones are
berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...
-like, similar to those of several other Podocarpaceae genera, notably '' Halocarpus'' and '' Prumnopitys'', with a fleshy white
aril An aril (), also called arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode, or false aril, is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ova ...
; the seeds are dispersed by
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
s, which digest the soft, fleshy aril as they pass the hard seeds in their droppings. Tanekaha Kahuroa.jpg, Phylloclades of '' P. trichomanoides'' Celery Top Pine.jpg, A seedling of '' P. aspleniifolius'' with needle-like juvenile leaves Phyllocladus alpinus Governors Bush Walk Mount Cook 1.JPG, Pollen cones of ''P. alpinus'' Phyllocladus aspleniifolius (Celery-top pine) cones (8711563882).jpg, Seed cones of ''P. aspleniifolius''


Taxonomy

''Phyllocladus'' is sufficiently morphologically distinct from the other Podocarpaceae genera that some botanists have treated them separately in their own family, Phyllocladaceae.Christopher N. Page. 1990. "Phyllocladaceae" pages 317-319. In: Klaus Kubitzki (general editor); Karl U. Kramer and Peter S. Green (volume editors) ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume I. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelberg, Germany. However, while at least one
molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
analysis found ''Phyllocladus'' to be
sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...
to ''Podocarpus'' '' sensu stricto'' William T. Sinclair, R. R. Mill, M. F. Gardner, P. Woltz, T. Jaffré, J. Preston, M. L. Hollingsworth, A. Ponge, and M. Möller. 2002. "Evolutionary relationships of the New Caledonian heterotrophic conifer, ''Parasitaxis usta'' (Podocarpaceae), inferred from chloroplast trnL-F intron/spacer and nuclear rDNA ITS2 sequences". ''Plant Systematics and Evolution'' 233(1-2):79-104. and another was equivocal on its position relative to Podocarpaceae s.s.,Steven J. Wagstaff. 2004. "Evolution and biogeography of the austral genus ''Phyllocladus'' (Podocarpaceae)". ''Journal of Biogeography'' 31(10):1569-1577. two more recent molecular phylogenetic analyses have placed ''Phyllocladus'' within Podocarpaceae as a sister taxon to '' Lepidothamnus''.Ed Biffin, Timothy J. Brodribb, Robert S. Hill, Philip Thomas and Andrew J. Lowe. 2012. "Leaf evolution in Southern Hemisphere conifers tracks the angiosperm ecological radiation". ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ''279:341-348. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0559.Patrick Knopf, Christian Schulz, Damon P. Little, Thomas Stutzel and Dennis W. Stevenson. 2012. "Relationships within Podocarpaceae based on DNA sequence, anatomical, morphological, and biogeographical data". ''Cladistics'' 28: 271–299. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00381.x Morphological analysis supports this placement, and therefore it has been suggested that the distinctive phylloclades in the genus are a
synapomorphy In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel Phenotypic trait, character or character state that has evolution, evolved from its ancestral form (or Plesiomorphy and symplesiomorphy, plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy sh ...
. The five species are genetically distinct, and probably arose between 5 and 7 million years ago.


Species

* '' Phyllocladus alpinus'' (''P. trichomanoides'' var. ''alpinus'') - mountain toatoa (
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
) * '' Phyllocladus aspleniifolius'' - celery-top pine (
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
) * '' Phyllocladus hypophyllus'' - Malesian celery-pine (
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
to
Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
and
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
) * '' Phyllocladus toatoa'' - toatoa (
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
) * '' Phyllocladus trichomanoides'' - tanekaha (
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
)


References


Sources

*Quinn, C. J. & Price, R. A. 2003. Phylogeny of the Southern Hemisphere Conifers. ''Proc. Fourth International Conifer Conference'': 129-136.


External links


Gymnosperm Database
- ''Phyllocladus'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q134249 Podocarpaceae Trees of New Zealand Podocarpaceae genera