Phyllocladus aspleniifolius description

Phyllocladus aspleniifolius G.R. Roberts

Common Names

Celery top pine, Adventure Bay pine (2).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Podocarpus aspleniifolius Labill. (1).

Description

Tree to 18(30) m tall, shrubby at high elevations. Branches irregularly arranged branches, bearing inconspicuous, scalelike leaves; leaf functions are performed mainly by deciduous, green branchlets that are flattened into leathery, leaflike phylloclades resembling celery leaflets (2).

Range

Temperate rain forests of W Tasmania at 500-800m (1) or 0-750 m (2).

Big Tree

Oldest

A plausible estimate is 800 years (4). A ring count of 604 rings in 10 cm is reported from a tree on Mount Read, central Tasmania (12). One tree-ring chronology, presumably based on living tree material, covers 665 years (8).

Dendrochronology

Twelve tree-ring chronologies were collected in about 1971 by the Americans Valmore C. LaMarche Jr. and Peter W. Dunwiddie in what were evidently the first explorations of the dendrochronological characteristics of the species (5, 8). Shortly thereafter, the Australians and New Zealanders began work in the area, assembling chronologies for a variety of native gymnosperms and successfully applying them to a variety of problems in work summarized by D.A. Norton, John Ogden and J.G. Palmer (6, 7, 8). P. asplenifolius has not been employed as extensively as some other Australasian species, but has been useful in some studies of past climate variation and in estimation of variations in atmospheric carbon-14 production in the southern hemisphere (9, 11). The earliest tree-ring chronology based on live trees begins in 1450 AD (11).

Ethnobotany

See (3) for detailed information on current commercial use of the timber. This is, incidentally, a classic example of timber mining. The species is currently being exploited as a commercial crop and timber remains available. However, the trees take approximately 300 years to mature. Such a course seems likely to lead to the commercial extinction of the species. Some conservation measures exist: "The conservation of the craftwood resource is related to the conservation of special species timbers as a whole. Large tracts of rainforest (34 per cent of the 565,000 ha total in the State) are reserved in Tasmania's National Parks and World Heritage areas. Of the 40 recognised rainforest plant communities, three are poorly reserved and three are not known in reserves" (10).

Observations

Remarks

See also Paleobotany of Australia and New Zealand conifers.

Citations

(1) Silba 1986.
(2) "celery-top pine," Britannica Online.
(3) Commercial uses.
(4) Woodlink: species description with pictures.
(5) The NOAA Paleoclimatology Program Tree-Ring Data Search Page.
(6) Palmer & Ogden 1992.
(7) Norton & Palmer 1992.
(8) Ogden & Dunwiddie 1982.
(9) Barbetti et al. 1995.
(10) Social and Economic Report: Craftwood.
(12) International Dendrology Society. Year Book 1996.
(13) International Tree-Ring Data Bank, chronology AUSL018, limiting dates 1310-1975.