| Podocarpaceae | |
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| Podocarpus elatus Illawarra Plum | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Araucariales |
| Family: | Podocarpaceae Endl. |
| Genera | |
See text | |
| Synonyms | |
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Podocarpaceae is a largefamily of mainlySouthern Hemisphereconifers, known in English aspodocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.[1] It contains 20genera ifPhyllocladus is included andManoao andSundacarpus are recognized. The family achieved its maximum diversity in theCenozoic, making thePodocarpaceae family one of the most diverse in thesouthern hemisphere.
The family is a classic member of theAntarctic flora, with its main centres ofdiversity inAustralasia, particularlyNew Caledonia,Tasmania, and New Zealand, and to a slightly lesser extentMalesia and South America (primarily in theAndes Mountains). Several genera extend north of the equator intoIndochina and thePhilippines.Podocarpus reaches as far north as southern Japan and southern China in Asia, and Mexico in the Americas, andNageia into southern China and southern India. Two genera also occur insub-Saharan Africa, the widespreadPodocarpus and the endemicAfrocarpus.
Parasitaxus usta is unique as the only knownparasiticgymnosperm. It occurs on New Caledonia, where it is parasitic on another member of the Podocarpaceae,Falcatifolium taxoides.[2]
The genusPhyllocladus issister to the Podocarpaceaesensu stricto.[2] It is treated by some botanists in its own family, thePhyllocladaceae.[3]
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 ofPodocarpus is found mainly in South America and theIndonesian islands, the latter also being rich inDacrydium andDacrycarpus species.
Podocarpus (with 82 to 100 species)[1][4] andDacrydium (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 southernGondwanaland. The breaking up of Gondwanaland led to large-scalespeciation of the Podocarpaceae.
Until 1970, only seven Podocarpaceae genera were recognized:Podocarpus,Dacrydium,Phyllocladus,Acmopyle,Microcachrys,Saxegothaea, andPherosphaera. All four of the African species fell underPodocarpus –P. falcatus,P. elongatus,P. henkelii, andP. latifolius. Taxonomists dividedPodocarpus species into eight species groups based on leaf anatomy:Afrocarpus J.Buchholz & N.E.Gray,Dacrycarpus Endl.,Eupodocarpus Endl.,Microcarpus Pilg.,Nageia (Gaertn.)Endl.,PolypodiopsisC.E.Bertrand (nonPolypodiopsis Carriére nom. rej. prop. 6),Stachycarpus Endl. andSundacarpusJ.Buchholz andN.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.[5]
In 1990, atreatment of the Podocarpaceae recognized 17 genera, excludingPhyllocladus from the family, while recognizingSundacarpus, but notManoao.[4] In 1995,Manoao wassegregated fromLagarostrobus, based onmorphologicalcharacteristics.[6] In 2002, amolecular phylogenetic study showedSundacarpus isembedded inPrumnopitys and themonophyly ofLagarostrobos is doubtful ifManoao is included within it.[2] More recent treatments of the family have recognizedManoao, but notSundacarpus.[7]
Molecular evidence supports Podocarpaceae being thesister group to theAraucariaceae, and having diverged from it during the latePermian.[8] While some fossils attributed to the family have been reported from the Late Permian and Triassic, likeRissikia, these cannot be unambiguously assigned to the family. The oldest unambiguous members of the family are known from theJurassic period, found across both hemispheres, such asScarburgia andHarrisiocarpus 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 earlyCenozoic.[9]
Studies based on anatomical, biogeographical, morphological, and DNA evidence suggest these relationships:
| Knopf 2012[10] | Leslie et al. 2018[11][12] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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