Conservation Status
Podocarpus degeneri
Kuasi.
Type: Fiji, Viti Levu, Mba, Nandarivatu, February 4 1941, O. Degener 14272 (holotype L). Syn.: Podocarpus neriifolius var. degeneri N.E.Gray (1958). Netta Gray described this as a variety of P. neriifolius and subsequent authors accepted that, but as de Laubenfels (2015) noted, there was a problem with this interpretation: P. neriifolius eventually became something of a catchall taxon for a wide variety of Podocarpus specimens that were not easily identified; see P. neriifolius for discussion of the problem. de Laubenfels (2015) accordingly raised the variety to species rank, placing it in subgenus Foliolatus, section Bracteatus, a section of 5 species distributed from Sumatera to Fiji. The section does not include P. decipiens or P. pilgeri, though, both of which were found to be sisters to P. degeneri in the only molecular study to date that has evaluated essentially all taxa in Podocarpus (Khan et al. 2023).
Shrubs or small trees; branches few, somewhat whorled. Foliage buds ovoid, up to 8 mm long, outer scales acuminate to long-attenuate or apiculate. Leaves thin-coriaceous, 6-12 cm × 6-10 mm on mature trees (up to 18 cm × 17 mm on juvenile plants), linear-angustate, adaxially shiny, abaxially dull and rusty, the apices narrowly acute, the bases narrowed into short petioles. Pollen cones axillary on growth of the previous year, sessile, cylindrical, up to 30 × 3-3.5 mm, subtended by numerous thin, carinate, broad-ovate scales that are sometimes apiculate; microsporophylls with small, narrow, up-turned apiculi. Female cones axillary, solitary on slender 7-12 mm peduncles, the receptacle composed of several fused scales, 8 mm long with small, spreading free tips, subtended by a pair of slender, thin, attenuate bracts up to 5 mm long, bearing 1-2 ovules. Seeds 9-12 × 5 mm, bluntly crested; immature seeds narrowed at the base (Gray 1958, Farjon 2010).
Fiji: Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, at elevations of 40-1050 m in evergreen tropical forest, either riparian in dry forest or in matrix forest at higher elevations where precipitation is less limiting (Farjon 2010). Podocarpus degeneri does not appear to have received a conservation assessment since before 1999, but at that time it was judged to be of "Least Concern" (Farjon 2010).
The epithet honors American botanist Otto Degener (1899-1988), who collected the type specimen.
Gray, Netta E. 1958. A Taxonomic Revision of Podocarpus, XI. The South Pacific Species of Section Podocarpus, Subsection B. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 39:474. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.01.08.
Khan, R., Hill, R. S., Liu, J., and Biffin, E. 2023. Diversity, distribution, systematics and conservation status of Podocarpaceae. Plants 12(5):1171. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12051171.
Laubenfels, D. J. de. 2015. New sections and species of Podocarpus based on the taxonomic status of P. neriifolius (Podocarpaceae) in tropical Asia. Novon 24(2):133–152. https://doi.org/10.3417/2012091.
Last Modified 2025-02-23
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