Podocarpus nakaii

Hayata (1916)

Common names

桃實百日青, Nakai yellowwood.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: P. macrophyllus var. nakaii (Hayata) Li & Keng; P. macrophyllus var. maki Endlicher (Li 1975). The classification used here is that chosen by de Laubenfels (1985), who regards P. macrophyllus var. maki as a synonym for P. chinensis.

Description

A medium-sized tree, to 60 cm in diameter. Bark grayish red-brown, breaking up into longitudinal thin shaggy flakes, flakes 1-2 cm. wide, 0.5 mm. thick; lenticels inconspicuous, outer bark 2-3 mm. in thickness, fibrous, with a reddish brown cross-section; newly formed periderm pale reddish brown; inner bark 2-6 mm. thick, pale reddish orange, immediately becoming pale yellowish brown after cutting, finely fibrous; cambium and newly formed phloem white in color. Branches terete, glabrous. Leaves coriaceous, alternate, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 6-8 cm long, 8-12 mm broad, straight or slightly falcate, dark green above, silver-green beneath, the base cuneate, acute or shortly attenuate; petioles very short, about 5 mm long. Staminate strobilus 4-6 cm. long. Seeds solitary, axillary, obliquely ovoid, acute at the apex, 1 cm long, 8 mm wide; receptacle fleshy, pale red at maturity in April, obliquely onconical-globose, 2-lobed, 5-12 mm long; peduncles 2-12 mm long. Freshly cut sapwood pale apricot yellow, wood rays inconspicuous (Liu 1970, Li 1975). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

Taiwan: "the northern and central parts of the island, scattered in broad-leaved forests" (Li 1975).

The IUCN reports that this species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future, due to recent and ongoing exploitation within a range that is already severely fragmented, with total population size estimated at fewer than 2,500 mature plants and no subpopulation containing more than 250 mature plants.

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-01-23.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2026-01-23.

Observations

See the observations on iNaturalist.

Remarks

The epithet honors S. Nakai, who collected the type specimen.

Citations

de Laubenfels, David J. 1985. A taxonomic revision of the genus Podocarpus. Blumea 30:51-278.

Hayata, B. 1916. Icones Plantarum Formosanarum nec non et Contributiones ad Floram Formosanam V. 6 p. 66. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2025.02.23.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Gray, Netta E. 1958. A Taxonomic Revision of Podocarpus, XI. The South Pacific Species of Section Podocarpus, Subsection B. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 39:454. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2023.01.08.

Huang 1994 (the Flora of Taiwan).