Podocarpaceae

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Podocarpaceae
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic–present
Podocarpus elatus habit.jpg
Podocarpus elatus Illawarra Plum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Araucariales
Family: Podocarpaceae
Endl.
Genera

See text

Synonyms [1] [2]
  • Acmopyleaceae (Pilg.) Melikyan & A.V.Bobrov
  • Microcachrydaceae Doweld & Reveal
  • Microstrobaceae Doweld & Reveal
  • Nageiaceae D.Z.Fu
  • Phyllocladaceae Bessey
  • Phyllocladaceae Core ex H.Keng
  • Phyllolcadaceae Bessey
  • Prumnopityaceae A.V.Bobrov & Melikyan
  • Saxegothaeaceae Gaussen ex Doweld & Reveal

Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly southern hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs. [3] 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.

Contents

The family is a classic member of the Antarctic flora, with its main centres of diversity in 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 China and southern India. Two genera also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, the widespread Podocarpus and the endemic Afrocarpus .

Parasitaxus usta is unique as the only known parasitic gymnosperm. It occurs on New Caledonia, where it is parasitic on another member of the Podocarpaceae, Falcatifolium taxoides . [4]

The genus Phyllocladus is sister to the Podocarpaceae sensu stricto . [4] It is treated by some botanists in its own family, the Phyllocladaceae. [5]

Taxonomy

The Podocarpaceae show great diversity, both morphologically and ecologically. Members occur mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, with most genetic variety taking place in New Caledonia, New Zealand, and Tasmania. Species diversity of Podocarpus is found mainly in South America and the Indonesian islands, the latter also being rich in Dacrydium and Dacrycarpus species.

Podocarpus (with 82 to 100 species) [3] [6] and Dacrydium (with 21 species) are the largest genera. A few genera are common to New Zealand and South America, supporting the view that podocarps had an extensive distribution over southern Gondwanaland. The breaking up of Gondwanaland led to large-scale speciation of the Podocarpaceae.

Until 1970, only seven Podocarpaceae genera were recognized: Podocarpus, Dacrydium, Phyllocladus, Acmopyle, Microcachrys, Saxegothaea, and Pherosphaera. All four of the African species fell under Podocarpus – P. falcatus, P. elongatus, P. henkelii, and P. latifolius. Taxonomists divided Podocarpus species into eight species groups based on leaf anatomy: Afrocarpus J.Buchholz & N.E.Gray, Dacrycarpus Endl., Eupodocarpus Endl., Microcarpus Pilg., Nageia (Gaertn.) Endl., Polypodiopsis C.E.Bertrand (non Polypodiopsis Carriére nom. rej. prop. 6), Stachycarpus Endl. and Sundacarpus J.Buchholz and N.E.Gray.

Studies of embryology, gametophyte development, female cone structure, and cytology led to the belief that the eight categories probably deserved generic status. Researchers agreed on the need to recognize "fairly natural groupings which prove to have good geographic and probably evolutionary cohesion" and took the necessary steps to raise each section to generic status. [7]

In 1990, a treatment of the Podocarpaceae recognized 17 genera, excluding Phyllocladus from the family, while recognizing Sundacarpus , but not Manoao. [6] In 1995, Manoao was segregated from Lagarostrobus , based on morphological characteristics. [8] In 2002, a molecular phylogenetic study showed Sundacarpus is embedded in Prumnopitys and the monophyly of Lagarostrobos is doubtful if Manoao is included within it. [4] More recent treatments of the family have recognized Manoao, but not Sundacarpus. [9]

Evolution

Molecular evidence supports Podocarpaceae being the sister group to the Araucariaceae, and having diverged from it during the late Permian. [10] While some fossils attributed to the family have been reported from the Late Permian and Triassic, like Rissikia , these cannot be unambiguously assigned to the family. The oldest unambiguous members of the family are known from the Jurassic period, found across both hemispheres, such as Scarburgia and Harrisiocarpus from the Middle Jurassic of England, as well as unnamed species from the Middle-Late Jurassic of Patagonia. Modern genera of the family first appeared during the Early Cretaceous, with the family probably reaching an apex of diversity during the early Cenozoic. [11]

Genera

Studies based on anatomical, biogeographical, morphological, and DNA evidence suggest these relationships:

Knopf 2012 [12] Leslie et al. 2018 [13] [14]
Podocarpaceae
Phyllocladoideae
Podocarpoideae
Saxegothaeeae

Saxegothaea

Microcachrydeae

Microcachrys

List of extant genera

Extinct genera

Genera that have been moved into a new subfamily are tagged with ±. Genera that are wood[ further explanation needed ] are tagged with #.

References

  1. ↑ "Podocarpaceae Endl". World Flora Online . World Flora Online Consortium. 2025. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  2. ↑ Bánki, Olaf; et al. (2025). "Podocarpaceae Endl". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000 & ITIS. doi:10.48580/dgqdn . Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  3. 1 2 James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. Conifers of the World. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN   978-0-88192-974-4.
  4. 1 2 3 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 Evolution233 (1–2): 79–104. doi : 10.1007/s00606-002-0199-8
  5. ↑ 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. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. ISBN   978-0-387-51794-0
  6. 1 2 Christopher N. Page. 1990. "Podocarpaceae" pages 332–346. In: Klaus Kubitzki (general editor); Karl U. Kramer and Peter S. Green (volume editors) The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants volume I. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. ISBN   978-0-387-51794-0
  7. ↑ Barker, N. P.; Muller, E. M.; and Mill, R. R. (2004). "A yellowwood by any other name: molecular systematics and the taxonomy of Podocarpus and the Podocarpaceae in southern Africa" Archived 2008-04-08 at the Wayback Machine . South African Journal of Science, 100: 629–632.
  8. ↑ Brian P. J. Molloy. 1995. "Manoao (Podocarpaceae), a new monotypic conifer genus endemic to New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany33 (2): 183–201.
  9. ↑ Aljos Farjon. 2008. A Natural History of Conifers. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN   978-0-88192-869-3
  10. ↑ Stull, Gregory W.; Qu, Xiao-Jian; Parins-Fukuchi, Caroline; Yang, Ying-Ying; Yang, Jun-Bo; Yang, Zhi-Yun; Hu, Yi; Ma, Hong; Soltis, Pamela S.; Soltis, Douglas E.; Li, De-Zhu (July 19, 2021). "Gene duplications and phylogenomic conflict underlie major pulses of phenotypic evolution in gymnosperms" . Nature Plants. 7 (8): 1015–1025. Bibcode:2021NatPl...7.1015S. doi:10.1038/s41477-021-00964-4. ISSN   2055-0278. PMID   34282286. S2CID   236141481.
  11. ↑ Andruchow-Colombo, Ana; Escapa, Ignacio H; Aagesen, Lone; Matsunaga, Kelly K S (2023-08-04). "In search of lost time: tracing the fossil diversity of Podocarpaceae through the ages". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 203 (4): 315–336. doi:10.1093/botlinnean/boad027. hdl: 11336/227952 . ISSN   0024-4074.
  12. ↑ Knopf; Schulze; Little; Stützel; Stevenson (2012). "Relationships within Podocarpaceae based on DNA sequence, anatomical, morphological, and biogeographical data". Cladistics. 28 (3): 271–299. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00381.x . PMID   34872191. S2CID   86581015.
  13. ↑ Leslie, Andrew B.; Beaulieu, Jeremy; Holman, Garth; Campbell, Christopher S.; Mei, Wenbin; Raubeson, Linda R.; Mathews, Sarah; et al. (2018). "An overview of extant conifer evolution from the perspective of the fossil record". American Journal of Botany. 105 (9): 1531–1544. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.1143 . PMID   30157290.
  14. ↑ Leslie, Andrew B.; et al. (2018). "ajb21143-sup-0004-AppendixS4" (PDF). American Journal of Botany. 105 (9): 1531–1544. doi:10.1002/ajb2.1143. PMID   30157290. S2CID   52120430.

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