Nageia

Nageia is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae.[4] Nageia includes evergreen shrubs and trees, from one to 54 meters in height. A 2009 treatment of the genus recognized five species.[5] Some authors consider Nageia formosensis to be a separate species from Nageia nagi, thus recognizing six species. The podocarp genera have been reshuffled by various botanists. Most recently, several species formerly classed as Nageia were moved to the new genus Retrophyllum, while Nageia falcata and Nageia mannii were moved to the new genus Afrocarpus.

Nageia
Nageia nagi[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Podocarpaceae
Genus:	Nageia Gaertn. 1788 not Roxb. 1832 (syn of Putranjiva in Putranjivaceae)[2]
Type species
Nageia nagi (Thunberg) C.E.O. Kuntze
Synonyms[3]
Decussocarpus de Laub.

Description

Nageia are evergreen woody plants that usually grow as trees but may also rarely be shrubs, varying in height from one to 54 meters.[6] The branching is irregular.[7] The thin and hard bark often peels with scale-like plates.[7]

The leaves are simple and flat. The phyllotaxis or leaf arrangement can be spiral or subopposite and nearly decussate.[7][8] The leaf petioles are frequently twisted so the leaves form a flat plane around the shoot.[6][7] The leaf blade is elliptic, ovate-elliptic or lanceolate in shape.[6][7] Juvenile leaves are similar in shape to the adult leaves but may be larger or smaller depending on the species.[8] The leaves have multiple parallel longitudinal veins converging toward the ends. Stomata may be found on either both surfaces of the leaf or only the abaxial or underside. The leaf surface is coriaceous.[7]

Nageia are generally dioecious, with male pollen cones and female seed cones borne on separate individual plants but may sometimes be monoecious. The cones are pedunculate and develop from axillary buds.[7][8]

The pollen cones are long and ovoid-cylindric in shape. They may be solitary or grow in small spicate groups of two to six cones.[7][8] Each pollen cone has numerous spirally inserted microsporophylls. The microsprophylls may be triangular or apiculate in shape. Each of them has two basal pollen sacs with bisaccate pollen.[7]

The seed cones are solitary and have long peduncles. They have several sterile and one or rarely two fertile scales, each fertile scale with one seed producing ovule.[7] Depending on the species, as the cone matures, the sterile scales may fuse and become fleshy as in the closely related Podocarpus or they may wither.[7][8] A part of the cone scale supporting the ovule develops into a drupe-like fleshy covering known as the epimatium.[6][7] The fleshy parts of the cones attract birds, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings.[9]

The species of Nageia are distinguished from similar Podocarpus and the other genera in the Podocarpaceae by their broad, flat subopposite leaves with no midrib, superficially similar to those of the unrelated Agathis (Araucariaceae). Nageia is the only genus in Podocarpaceae with multi-veined leaves.

• 
  Broad leaves of N. wallichiana.
• 
  A pair of male cones of N. nagi.
• 
  Female cones of N. nagi with a brown epimatium around the seed.
• 
  Nageia fleuryi seedling - note Ginkgo biloba seedling in background.

Distribution

Nageia can be found in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests of Asia and Australasia, from Assam in eastern India across Southeast Asia to southern China and southern Japan, and across Malesia, from the Malay peninsula across Indonesia to New Guinea and New Britain.[3] An outpost of N. wallichiana is found in the South Western Ghats montane rain forests of southern India, where it is thought to be a relatively recent colonist in biogeographical terms.

Nageia, like many podocarps, can usually be found scattered throughout the forest mixed with other trees, and is rarely if ever found growing in pure stands. The wood is yellowish, typical of podocarps, and a few species are locally important for lumber.

Classification

The genus contains six species:[3][7]

Image	Scientific name	Distribution
	Nageia fleuryi	S China, E Indochina
	Nageia formosensis	Taiwan
	Nageia maxima	Sarawak
	Nageia motleyi	S Thailand, W Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra
	Nageia nagi	S China (incl. Hainan), Kyushu in Japan, Taiwan
	Nageia wallichiana	SW India; widespread from Assam + Yunnan to Maluku

formerly included[3]

moved to other genera: Acmopyle Afrocarpus Amentotaxus Cephalotaxus Dacrycarpus Dacrydium Falcatifolium Madhuca Parasitaxus Podocarpus Prumnopitys Putranjiva (Putranjivaceae) Retrophyllum Sundacarpus

1. N. acutifolia — Podocarpus acutifolius
2. N. affinis — Podocarpus affinis
3. N. alpina — Podocarpus lawrencei
4. N. amara — Sundacarpus amarus
5. N. andina — Prumnopitys andina
6. N. angustifolia — Podocarpus parlatorei
7. N. appressa — Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki
8. N. argotaenia — Amentotaxus argotaenia
9. N. aristulata — Podocarpus angustifolius
10. N. beccarii — Dacrydium beccarii
11. N. bracteata — Podocarpus bracteatus
12. N. chilina — Podocarpus salignus
13. N. chinensis — Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki
14. N. comptonii — Retrophyllum comptonii
15. N. coriacea — Podocarpus coriaceus
16. N. corrugata — Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki
17. N. costalis — Podocarpus costalis
18. N. cumingii — Dacrycarpus cumingii
19. N. cupressina — Dacrycarpus imbricatus
20. N. curvifolia — Prumnopitys montana
21. N. dacrydioides — Dacrycarpus dacrydioides
22. N. discolor — Podocarpus neriifolius
23. N. drouyniana — Podocarpus drouynianus
24. N. elata — Podocarpus elatus
25. N. elongata — Podocarpus elongatus
26. N. endlicheriana — Podocarpus neriifolius
27. N. ensifolia — Podocarpus spinulosus
28. N. eurhyncha — Sundacarpus amarus
29. N. excelsa — Dacrycarpus dacrydioides
30. N. falcata — Afrocarpus falcatus
31. N. falciformis — Falcatifolium falciforme
32. N. ferruginea — Prumnopitys ferruginea
33. N. flagelliformis — Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki
34. N. glomerata — Podocarpus glomeratus
35. N. gnidioides — Podocarpus gnidioides
36. N. hallii — Podocarpus cunninghamii
37. N. insignis — Amentotaxus argotaenia
38. N. japonica (Siebold ex Endl.) Kuntze 1891 not Gaertn. 1788 - Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki
39. N. kirkiana — Podocarpus acutifolius
40. N. koraiana — Cephalotaxus harringtonii
41. N. laeta — Podocarpus spinulosus
42. N. lambertii — Podocarpus lambertii
43. N. latifolia (Thunb.) Kuntze 1891 not Gordon 1858 - Podocarpus latifolius
44. N. leptostachya — Podocarpus neriifolius
45. N. macrophylla — Podocarpus macrophyllus
46. N. macrostachya — Podocarpus oleifolius
47. N. madagascariensis — Podocarpus madagascariensis
48. N. mannii — Afrocarpus mannii
49. N. mannii var. dawei — Afrocarpus dawei
50. N. mannii var. usambarensis — Afrocarpus usambarensis
51. N. meyeriana — Afrocarpus falcatus
52. N. minor — Retrophyllum minus
53. N. montana — Prumnopitys montana
54. N. neglecta — Podocarpus neriifolius
55. N. neriifolia — Podocarpus neriifolius
56. N. nivalis — Podocarpus nivalis
57. N. novae-caledoniae — Podocarpus novae-caledoniae
58. N. nubigena — Podocarpus nubigenus
59. N. oleifolia — Podocarpus oleifolius
60. N. palembanica — Madhuca palembanica
61. N. pancheri — Acmopyle pancheri
62. N. parvifolia — Podocarpus lawrencei
63. N. piresii — Retrophyllum piresii
64. N. polystachya — Podocarpus polystachyus
65. N. purdieana — Podocarpus purdieanus
66. N. putranjiva — Putranjiva roxburghii
67. N. rospigliosii — Retrophyllum rospigliosii
68. N. rumphii — Podocarpus rumphii
69. N. salicifolia — Podocarpus salicifolius
70. N. sellowii — Podocarpus sellowii
71. N. spicata — Prumnopitys taxifolia
72. N. spinulosa — Podocarpus spinulosus
73. N. sprucei — Podocarpus sprucei
74. N. taxoides — Falcatifolium taxoides
75. N. tenuifolia — Dacrycarpus vieillardii
76. N. teysmannii — Podocarpus teysmannii
77. N. thevetiifolia — Podocarpus polystachyus
78. N. thunbergii — Podocarpus latifolius
79. N. totara — Podocarpus totara
80. N. usta — Parasitaxus ustus
81. N. valdiviana — Prumnopitys andina
82. N. vieillardii — Dacrycarpus vieillardii
83. N. vitiensis — Retrophyllum vitiense

References

1. illustration from Flora Japonica, Sectio Prima (Tafelband). 1870 by Philipp Franz von Siebold and Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini
2. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Nageia Roxb.
3. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Famiiles, Nageia Gaertn.
4. Christopher N. Page. 1990. "Podocarpaceae" pages 332-346. In: Klaus Kubitzki (general editor); Karl U. Kramer and Peter S. Green (volume editors) The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants volume I. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN 978-0-387-51794-0
5. James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. Conifers of the World. Timber Press: Portland, OR, USA. ISBN 978-0-88192-974-4.
6. Earle, Christopher J. (2012). "Nageia". The Gymnosperm Database, conifers.org. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
7. Farjon, Aljos (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Leiden: Brill. p. 518. ISBN 9789004177185.
8. "Nageia". eFloras: Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. 1999. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
9. Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 79 竹柏属 zhu bai shu Nageia Gaertner, Fruct. Sem. Pl. 1: 191. 1788.

External links

• Nageia At: Podocarpaceae At: The Gymnosperm Database