Acmopyle

Pilger 1903

Common names

Acmopyle.

Taxonomic notes

A genus of two species:

• Acmopyle pancheri (endemic to New Caledonia), and
• Acmopyle sahniana (endemic to Fiji).

The genus Acmopyle is remarkable for its fleshy seeds that later become erect and for the initial position of the inclined ovule (see Mill et al. 2001). Non-fruiting specimens can be identified by the dense, flattened bilateral leaves and the leaf base which becomes narrower. Superficially, the leaves of Acmopyle resemble or have been confused with the leaves of Pectinopitys ferruginoides. De Laubenfels (1972) felt that Acmopyle displays morphological characters intermediate between Falcatifolium and Dacrycarpus, differing in characters of the fleshy seed and the rib of the leaves. Independent molecular analyses, as discussed for the Podocarpaceae, have placed Acmopyle sister to a clade that includes most species in the family: Afrocarpus, Dacrycarpus, Dacrydium, Falcatifolium, Nageia, Podocarpus, and Retrophyllum.

Description

Small, primarily dioecious evergreen trees, with sparse branching according to Massart's model. Terminal buds absent. Leaves spirally arranged, of two kinds: small and scale-like, not very abundant, on leading and fertile shoots; larger and foliate on lateral, vegetative shoots. Foliate leaves spreading obliquely or in pinnate ranks, falcate-linear, flattened bilaterally, distichous, with many stomata on the lower leaf surface, leaf margins sometimes curved, leaves becoming non-distichous on exposed branches, with a single vein. Pollen cone terminal or sometimes lateral, axillary, solitary or in small groups, catkin-like. Microsporophylls triangular, helically attached to a thin rachis on very short stalks; bisaccate pollen. Seed cone solitary (sometimes grouped) on a short scaly peduncle, terminal or lateral, ripening fleshy and verrucose, receptacle shaped with several bracts whose apex is free. Receptacle is shorter than the seed, enclosing it only at the base where it is adnate to the seed scale. Seeds single, formed from a subterminal inclined ovule that becomes nearly erect at maturity, partially covered with a bluish, pruinose epimatium (de Laubenfels 1972, Farjon 2010; see also Mill et al., 2001).

Distribution and Ecology

New Caledonia (A. pancheri) and Fiji (A. sahniana). A. pancheri is reasonably common in its range, its conservation status "near threatened"; A. sahniana is one of the rarest conifers in the world, with fewer than 100 mature individuals in habitat, and is "critically endangered" (IUCN, accessed 2020.02.07).

Remarkable Specimens

Neither species can really be called "big", but certainly the largest ones are of A. pancheri. I have found no data on tree ages.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.21.

Observations

No data as of 2023.02.21.

Remarks

The genus is named in reference to the erect seeds: "akme" from the Greek for "high point" and "pyle" meaning "gateway."

Citations

Mill, R.R., M. Möller, S.M. Glidewell, D. Masson, F. Christie, and B. Williamson. 2001. Morphology, anatomy and ontogeny of female cones in Acmopyle pancheri (Brongn. & Grise.) Pilg. (Podocarpaceae). Annals of Botany 88: 55-67.

Thanks to Ferenc Kiss for translating de Laubenfels from the French (2003.04).

See also