Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Austrotaxus

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Kingdom
  
Plantae

Family
  
Taxaceae

Scientific name
  
Austrotaxus spicata

Rank
  
Species

Division
  
Pinophyta

Genus
  
Austrotaxus

Higher classification
  
Austrotaxus

Order
  
Pinales

Austrotaxus httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Similar
  
Pseudotaxus chienii, Amentotaxus, Pinales, Acmopyle, Torreya

Austrotaxus spicata, the New Caledonia Yew or Southern Yew, is a species of yew, the sole species in the genus Austrotaxus. It is related to the other yews in the genera Taxus and Pseudotaxus.

It is endemic to New Caledonia, occurring in the central and northern parts of the island at 300-1,350 m altitude.

It is a coniferous shrub or small tree, reaching 5–20 m (rarely 25 m) tall with reddish bark. The leaves are lanceolate, flat, 8–12 cm long (up to 17 cm on young plants) and 4 mm broad, dark green above, with two paler green stomatal bands below; they are arranged spirally on the stem.

The seed cones are drupe-like, 20–25 mm long, with a fleshy aril almost completely surrounding the single seed, but with the tip of the seed exposed. The male (pollen) cones are 10–15 mm long, slender.

The markedly longer leaves and large seeds readily distinguish it from the yews in the genus Taxus.

References

Austrotaxus Wikipedia