Lepidothamnus

Lepidothamnus is a genus of three species in the family of Podocarpus plants ( Podocarpaceae ).

Description

There are shrubs or small trees. The leaves are needle-like but they have in the youth phase lanceolate leaves, later scaly leaves that are tough and leathery.

These species are dioecious ( dioecious ) or monoecious monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig. The sessile, male cones sit individually on the branches. The female cones sit individually at the ends of branches, each with one or two fertile cone scales. On the dark seeds that mature in the second year, there is a small asymmetric aril.

Dissemination

The genus Lepidothamnus has a strongly disjoint area: a species is endemic in southern Chile ( Tierra del Fuego ) and the other two species are indigenous to New Zealand ( see dissemination of accurate species).

System

In the genus Lepidothamnus there are only three kinds:

• Lepidothamnus fonkii Phil There are shrubs with plant height up to 60 cm. You are in southern Chile endemic in Tierra del Fuego to 40 ° south latitude, at altitudes 2-20 meters. The species is part of the Magellanic subpolar bog and bush vegetation.
• Lepidothamnus intermedius ( Kirk) Quinn. This type is available in many parts of New Zealand, both on the South and in the North Island. The small trees reach heights of growth of 15 meters and trunk diameter of 0.60 meters. The reddish- yellow wood is very hard and difficult to ignite.
• Zwergsteineibe ( Lepidothamnus laxifolius ( Hook. f ) Quinn ). This semi- upright growing shrub is one of the smallest known species within the Pinophyta, he reached maximum growth heights of 1 m, but fruiting specimens have been found which were only 7.6 cm high. This species is native to New Zealand.

The species were formerly included in the genus Dacrydium then polyphyletic, to David John de Laubenfels 1969 performed the division into several monophyletic genera.

Swell

• Information on the genus at The Gymnosperm Database. (English )