Afrocarpus
| Afrocarpus | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Afrocarpus falcatus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Podocarpaceae |
| Genus: |
Afrocarpus (Buchanan-Hamilton & N.E.Gray) C.N.Page |
| Type species | |
|
Afrocarpus falcatus ( Thunberg) C.N.Page |
|
| Species | |
|
Afrocarpus dawei |
|
Afrocarpus dawei
Afrocarpus falcatus
Afrocarpus gaussenii
Afrocarpus gracilior
Afrocarpus mannii
Afrocarpus usambarensis
Afrocarpus is a genus of conifers belonging to the family Podocarpaceae. Two to six species are recognized. They are evergreen trees native to Africa. Afrocarpus was designated a genus in 1989, when several species formerly classified in Podocarpus and Nageia were reclassified.
Afrocarpus are evergreen trees. The individuals of the largest species, Afrocarpus falcatus, may reach a height of 60 meters. The thin bark often peels with scale-like plates.
The leaves are simple and flat. The phyllotaxis or leaf arrangement is usually spiral but may be opposite on young plants. The leaves are generally lanceolate in shape and coriaceous in texture. They have a single visible midrib. Stomata are found on both surfaces of the leaf.
Afrocarpus are dioecious, with male pollen cones and female seed cones borne on separate individual plants. The cones are short pedunculate and usually develop from axillary buds.
The male pollen cones are narrowly cylindrical and resemble catkins. They grow in small groups of two or three cones. The peduncles are glabrous. Each pollen cone has numerous spirally inserted microsporophylls each with two basal pollen sacs producing bisaccate pollen.
The female seed cones are solitary. Their peduncles may have small scale leaves. The cones consist of several sterile cone scales and one fertile cone scale with just one seed producing ovule. The sterile scales wither as the cone matures, unlike in the closely related genus Podocarpus where the scales fuse to form a fleshy receptacle. A part of the scale supporting the ovule develops into a rounded fleshy covering enclosing the seed entirely known as the epimatium. At maturity the epimatium varies in shape from subglobose to elliptic or obovoid and in color from greenish to yellow or brown.
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Wikipedia