Prumnopitys

File:MataiLeaves467.jpg

Adult leaves of P. taxifolia

Prumnopitys is a genus of conifers belonging to the family Podocarpaceae. It includes three species of densely branched, dioecious evergreen trees up to 40 metres in height, native to South America and New Zealand.<ref name = powo/>

Etymology

The name Prumnopitys comes from the Ancient Greek Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang ‘hindmost’) and Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang ‘pine’), referring to the resin duct being behind the midrib.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Description

The leaves are similar to those of the yew, strap-shaped, 1–4 cm long and 2–3 mm broad, with a soft texture; they are green above, and with two blue-green stomatal bands below. The seed cones are highly modified, reduced to a central stem 1–5 cm long bearing several scales; one to five scales are fertile, each bearing a single seed surrounded by fleshy scale tissue, resembling a drupe. These berry-like cone scales are eaten by birds which then disperse the seeds in their droppings.

Distribution

The species are distributed on both sides of the Pacific, in New Zealand and along the mountain ranges of western South America from Chile to Venezuela.<ref name = powo/> This distribution indicates the origins of Prumnopitys in the Antarctic flora, which evolved from the humid temperate flora of southern Gondwana, an ancient supercontinent.

Species

Template:As of, Plants of the World Online accepts the following three species:<ref name = powo/>

• Prumnopitys andina Template:Small – south-central and southern Chile and southern Argentina
• Prumnopitys montana Template:Small – northwestern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru
• Prumnopitys taxifolia Template:Small – New Zealand

Formerly placed here

Six species formerly in Prumnopitys were placed in the new genus Pectinopitys in 2019,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and many sources still include them in Prumnopitys.Template:Who

• Pectinopitys exigua Template:Small (as Prumnopitys exigua Template:Small)
• Pectinopitys ferruginea Template:Small (as Prumnopitys ferruginea Template:Small)
• Pectinopitys ferruginoides Template:Small (as Prumnopitys ferruginoides Template:Small)
• Pectinopitys harmsiana Template:Small (as Prumnopitys harmsiana Template:Small)
• Pectinopitys ladei Template:Small (as Prumnopitys ladei Template:Small)
• Pectinopitys standleyi Template:Small (as Prumnopitys standleyi Template:Small)

Fossil record

Fossils of Prumnopitys have been described from the Eocene of Australia, including Prumnopitys tasmanica Template:Small, Prumnopitys lanceolata Template:Small, and Prumnopitys portensis Template:Small.<ref>Greenwood, D.R. (1987). Early Tertiary Podocarpaceae: megafossils from the Eocene Anglesea locality, Victoria, Australia. Australian Journal of Botany, 35(2): 111–134.</ref><ref>Pole, M. (1992). Eocene vegetation from Hasties, north-eastern Tasmania. Australian systematic botany, 5(4): 431-475.</ref>

Taxonomy

Although the genus Prumnopitys was first described in 1861, it was only from 1978 that it was widely distinguished as distinct from the allied genus Podocarpus, despite the marked differences in cone development with different parts of the cone structure becoming fleshy and berry-like. Many older texts still have the species listed under Podocarpus.

In 2019 Christopher N. Page split six species into the new genus Pectinopitys based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence. Page found that Prumnopitys and Pectinopitys are most closely related to Sundacarpus.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The Chilean species for which the correct scientific name is Prumnopitys andina (previously Podocarpus andinus), has been treated by some botanists as Prumnopitys spicata (Molloy & Muñoz-Schick 1999); however this name is illegitimate (Mill & Quinn 2001).

Several species of Prumnopitys are used for timber, though as they are slow-growing, supplies are very limited and over-cutting has led to some having an unfavourable conservation status.

Phylogeny of Prumnopitys<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

References

• Gymnosperm Database: Prumnopitys
• de Laubenfels, D. J. 1978. The genus Prumnopitys (Podocarpaceae). Blumea 24: 189-190.
• de Laubenfels, D. J. 1988. Coniferales. in Flora Malesiana, Series I, 10: 337-453. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
• Molloy, B. P. J. & Muñoz-Schick, M. 1999. The correct name for the Chilean conifer Lleuque (Podocarpaceae). New Zealand J. Bot. 37: 189–193. Available onlineTemplate:Dead link (pdf file).
• Mill, R. R. & Quinn, C. J. 2001. Prumnopitys andina reinstated as the correct name for 'lleuque', the Chilean conifer recently renamed P. spicata (Podocarpaceae). Taxon 50: 1143 - 1154. Abstract.