photograph
Cultivated plant at Australian National Botanic Gardens/Canberra (fruiting branch) (7).
Podocarpus elatus R. Br. ex Endlicher

Common Names

Brown pine, plum pine (6).

Taxonomic notes

See (2, 3, 4). Base name for Nageia elata (Endl.) F. Muell.

Description

"Medium to large tree with brown to dark brown bark that is often fissured and scaly on old trees. Leaves oblong to linear, 6-18 mm wide, 5-14 cm long, midvein prominent, other veins obscure. Male cones narrow-cylindrical, catkin-like, to 3 cm long, in ± sessile, axillary clusters. Female cones axillary, stalked, solitary; scales few, fleshy, uniting with the stalk to form a fleshy receptacle. Fruiting receptacle blue-black, glaucous, fleshy, to 20 mm diam., bearing an almost globose seed c 10 mm diam.; ripe Mar.-July" (6).

Range

Australia (1): NSW & Qld, "in and around rainforest north from the Beecroft Peninsula" (6).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Exploited for timber and as an ornamental (6). "The seed is borne on a purple-black fleshy stalk, which was eaten [by Aboriginals]. It is sweet but mucilaginous" (5).

Observations

Remarks

Citations

(1) Silba 1986.
(2) P.436-439 in Gray 1958.
(3) J. Thompson. 1961. Contr. New South Wales Natl Herb. Fl. Ser. 1-18:42-44 (42-43).
(4) P.276 in de Laubenfels 1985.
(5) Australia National Botanical Garden, Aboriginal Trail page.
(6) Harden 1990.
(7) Vascular Plant Image Gallery, accessed 29-Nov-1998.


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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/po/po/elatus.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.net
Last modified on 19-Dec-98

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