Podocarpus brevifolius

(Stapf) Foxw. (1911)

Common names

None are recorded.

Taxonomic notes

Type: Malaysia: Sabah, Ranau District, Mt. Kinabalu, G. D. Haviland 1093 (lectotype K). Syn: P. neriifolius var. brevifolius Stapf (Farjon 1998).

This taxon was formerly treated as much more widespread. Gray (1958) placed it it Philippines (Luzon), China (Hainan), and Indonesia (Kinabalu area). FIPI (1996)) added Vietnam to this range. De Laubenfels (1988) reassigned the Luzon plants to Podocarpus lophatus and also says "reports of occurrences in various other places have all proven to be distinctly different species." I haven't been able to confirm an ID for the Hainan and Vietnam plants, but I strongly suspect they belong to one or more of the 17 species in the Podocarpus neriifolius complex; see that page for further discussion.

Description

Dioecious evergreen trees 1.5–7.5 m tall, often gnarled, with a conical crown that becomes irregular with age. Bark first smooth, becoming scaly on the largest stems, brown weathering to gray. Foliage branches spreading to assurgent with distal tufts of foliage; shaded branches have more widely-spaced leaves. Terminal buds on leading shoots 4–6 × 3–5 mm, onion-shaped or truncate with triangular, spreading outer scales. Juvenile foliage 4–8.5 cm long, 5–9 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, straight, narrowly acute. Adult foliage (1.2–)2–5(–7) cm long, 4–8 mm wide, elliptical or falcate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, coriaceous, spreading to erect and densely crowded, gradually tapering to a sessile or short petiolate base; apex acute or obtuse; margins slightly revolute; midrib forming a narrow ridge less than 0.4 mm wide on adaxial (upper) side, broad and 1 mm wide on abaxial side. Stomata very small, in numerous irregular lines on either side of the abaxial midrib. Pollen cones axillary, solitary or rarely paired, sessile, when fertile 20 × 4-5 mm; microsporophylls with narrow 1-1.5 mm long apex, bearing two globose pollen sacs. Seed cones near ends of foliage branches, axillary on short peduncles; receptacles subtended by two 3–4 mm long bracts; 6-8 mm long, distally bilobed or truncate when swollen and becoming dark purple. Seeds including the covering epimatium ovoid, 8-10 x 6-7 mm, with a small distal crest, dark purple, glaucous or pruinose. Seed not observed (Farjon 2010).

Distribution and Ecology

Malaysia: Sabah, where endemic to Mt. Kinabalu and the surrounding mountain ridges at elevations of 1350-3800 m. It is locally common in upper montane to subalpine dwarf forest, found on ultramafic substrates and also on granite. It has been found on ultramafic rock at 1350-1450 m a.s.l. near a copper mine and on the Bambangan Ridge at 1900 m in lower montane forest. Its elevational range on Mt. Kinabalu itself is 2100–3800 m, where it is a constituent of a dwarfed forest (treesto 10 m tall) dominated by the conifers Phyllocladus hypophyllus and Dacrycarpus kinabaluensis and the angiosperm Leptospermum recurvum (Myrtaceae). Other common woody plants in this zone are the conifer Dacrydium gibbsiae (on ultramafics) and the angiosperms Eugenia (Syzygium) kinabaluensis, Rhododendron buxifolium and Schima brevifolia. Near the summit of the mountain only dwarfed, shrub-like plants of P. brevifolius occur in granite crevices.

In 2011 the IUCN assessed P. brevifolius as "Near Threatened" with extinction in the wild because of its very small extent of occurrence and area of occupancy. However it is almost entirely protected within Mt. Kinabalu National Park and the only known threat is human-caused fire, which has thus far not come to pass within its high mountain habitat. At that time the population nearly qualified for "Vulnerable" listing and after this many years, a revised assessment is warranted.

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-01-19.

Ethnobotany

No uses are recorded, and it is not found in cultivation.

Observations

No data as of 2026-01-19.

Remarks

The epithet means "having short leaves".

Citations

Foxworthy, F. W. 1911. Philippine gymnosperms. Philippine Journal of Science, C. Botany 6(3):149-177 (p. 160). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2026.01.19.

Gray, Netta E. 1958. A Taxonomic Revision of Podocarpus, XI. The South Pacific Species of Section Podocarpus, Subsection B. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 424-477 (p.441). Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.01.08.

See also