Podocarpus subtropicalis
No common names have been recorded (Farjon 2010).
Type: China, Sichuan Province, Emei Shan, 1903.10, E.H. Wilson 3007 (holo A). Syn. P. subtropicalis de Laub. var. medogensis Silba 2000, P. subtropicalis de Laub. subsp. medogensis Silba 2010. The molecular and morphological analysis of the Podocarpaceae by Knopf et al. (2012) placed P. subtropicalis within a small clade containing taxa of the P. neriifolius complex from China, Thailand, and India, sister to a larger clade including other east Asian species. With only 19 recorded collections spanning the period 1903-2017 (GBIF, accessed 2023.02.09), little is known about this species; further molecular work might synonymize it within another species of the P. neriifolius complex, or reduce it to infraspecific rank.
Trees to 20 m tall, typically single-trunked. Twigs round, grooved. Foliage buds 4-5 × 2-3 mm, bud scales lanceolate, keeled, spreading or recurved. Leaves on 3-7 mm petioles, flushing yellow-green, maturing bright green above and pale green below, stiff, coriaceous, linear-lanceolate, straight to falcate, tapering at both ends, 50-120 × 7-13 mm (on saplings up to 180 × 14 mm); upper midrib acutely raised, lower midrib wider and centrally grooved; apex acute or acuminate. Pollen cones axillary, sessile, in groups of 2-5, foliola scarious, rostrate, keeled, 3-5 mm long; cones 20-40 × 2.5-3.5 mm. Seed cones solitary, axillary on slender 10-15 mm peduncles; receptacles subtended by 2, 1-2 mm foliola; when ripe 7-12 mm long, succulent, red. Seeds 1(-2), ovate, 10-12 × 8-10 mm including the blackish-purple epimatium, bearing a minute distal crest. Seed within epimatium brown, slightly flattened, 8 × 7 mm (Farjon 2010).
China: Sichuan (Emei Shan) and Yunnan. Within China it has been widely planted as an ornamental and, given the long history of Emei Shan as a sacred mountain littered with temples and shrines, it may have been introduced there. Its ecology has not been described (Farjon 2010).
The IUCN reports that this species is "Data Deficient" due to doubts about its taxonomic status and lack of knowledge about its occurrence in the wild (Carter and Farjon 2013).
No data as of 2023.01.23.
Stock from Emei Shan has been widely planted in China, and elsewhere in the world (Farjon 2010).
A living plant is in the catalog at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. I have no other locations, but it seems likely that it could be found on the grounds of one or more temples at Emei Shan, which is probably the most popular tourist destination in Sichuan.
The epithet simply means "subtropical".
Carter, G. and A. Farjon. 2013. Podocarpus subtropicalis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T34102A2845744. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T34102A2845744.en, accessed 2023.02.09.
The species page at POWO, accessed 2023.02.09.
Last Modified 2023-02-26
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