Brown Pine

R. R. Mill considers that records of Podocarpus neriifolius from Taiwan should be referred in part to P. nakaii and in part to P. fasciculus de Laubenfels (Blumea 30: 277. 1985), which also occurs in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (P. macrophyllus var. liukiuensis Warburg). Podocarpus fasciculus has pollen cones solitary or borne in clusters of 2-5 and leaf blades linear-lanceolate, with an acute apex. Mill also considers P. subtropicalis de Laubenfels (Blumea 30: 277. 1985), described from C Sichuan (Emei Shan), to be a separate species. D. J. de Laubenfels regards this as the most widely cultivated species of the genus in the warmer parts of the world (probably including many parts of China), and notes that it has often been misidentified as P. neriifolius, which is apparently rarely cultivated. It has pollen cones solitary or borne in clusters of 2-10 and leaf blades linear or linear-lanceolate, with an acute apex. However, L. K. Fu and Y. Li consider both P. fasciculus and P. subtropicalis to be synonymous with P. neriifolius. Further collections are needed to resolve the situation.

The wood is used in making furniture, musical instruments, carvings, and paper.

Trees to 25 m tall; trunk usually to 5 cm d.b.h.; bark grayish brown, thin, fibrous, peeling off in longitudinal flakes; branches spreading or ascending. Foliage bud scales erect, triangular, 1-1.5 mm wide, apex acute. Leaf blade lanceolate, usually slightly curved, (4-)7-15(-20) × (0.5-)0.9-1.3(-2) cm, leathery, midvein raised adaxially, flat or slightly raised abaxially, base cuneate into short petiole, apex long acuminate; juvenile leaves wider, with obtuse, mucronate apex. Pollen cones solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3, normally sessile, 2.5-5 cm, with several spirally arranged, basal bracts. Seed-bearing structures axillary, solitary; peduncle 0.9-2.2 cm. Receptacle orange-red when ripe, obconical-ellipsoid, 8-10 × 5-8 mm, base with 2 subulate bracts 2-6 mm. Epimatium purplish red when ripe. Seed ovoid or ovoid-subglobose, 0.8-1.6 cm, apex rounded or obtuse. Pollination May, seed maturity Aug-Nov. 2n = 34.

Himalaya (Nepal, Sikkim), Assam, Burma, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, New Guinea, Fiji.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, Cambodia, NE India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Pacific Islands]

1000-1100 m

Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 100-1000 m.

Margbensonia neriifolia (D. Don) A. V. Bobrov & Melikyan; Podocarpus discolor Blume; P. leptostachyus Blume; ?P. macrophyllus (Thunberg) Sweet var. acuminatissimus E. Pritzel; ?P. neglectus Blume.

Podocarpus neriifolius is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It grows 10–15m tall, though very occasionally taller, in tropical and subtropical wet closed forests, between 650m and 1600m altitude. In Cambodia however it grows in a dwarf form some 2–4m tall, at Bokor, some 1000m elevation.

It is found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Bhutan

Its common name in Khmer is srô:l.

It has a yellowish wood, used in construction in Cambodia, where it is graded 2nd category (not as good as 1st, but above others).

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