Podocarpus oleifolius

D. Don 1824

Common names

Taxonomic notes

Synonymy (Farjon 1998):

• Nageia oleifolia (D. Don) Kuntze 1891;
• Podocarpus macrostachyus Parl. 1868;
• N. macrostachya (Parl.) Kuntze 1891;
• P. oleifolius D. Don var. macrostachyus (Parl.) J. Buchholz et N.E. Gray 1948;
• P. oleifolius D. Don var. costaricensis J. Buchholz et N.E. Gray 1948;
• P. oleifolius D. Don var. trujillensis J. Buchholz et N.E. Gray 1948;
• P. oleifolius D. Don var. equadorensis Silba 1990;
• P. ingensis de Laubenfels 1991;
• P. monteverdeensis de Laubenfels 1991.

Farjon (2010) describes the rationale for synonymizing the last three names listed above. His basic argument is that P. oleifolius is a widespread taxon with a fairly high level of phenotypic variation, and that each of these species, as described and as shown by herbarium collections, overlaps with the characters of P. oleifolius. I have not seen any of these taxa in the field, and would like to have the opportunity to do so before blithely accepting this judgement.

Description

Distribution and Ecology

S Mexico to Colombia, Ecuador, N Peru, Venezuela (Farjon 1998).

Zone 10 (cold hardiness limit between -1°C and +4.4°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Big tree

Vladimir Dinets (e-mail, 2003.12.16) reports: "I found an unusually large specimen of Podocarpus (with a sign saying P. oleifolius) along the main trail at Biotopo Mario Dary Rivera, Guatemala. It was more than 1.5 m in diameter, and probably close to 50 m tall."

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

In El Salvador, it can be found in habitat only on the highest peaks of Cerro Montecristo, in Quercus-dominated cloud forests (Fernando Tobar email 2008.11.12).

Remarks

The epithet means "with leaves like an olive," which is equally true of many other species in the genus.

Citations

de Laubenfels, D. J. 1991. Brenesia 33:120.

de Laubenfels, D. J. 1991. Podocarpaceae Podocarpus ingensis de Laub. Boletin de Lima 13(73): 58.

See also

de Laubenfels, D. 1994. Las podocarpáceas del Peru. Boletin de Lima 16(91-96): 35-38.