YEW FAMILY (TAXACEAE) 



2. Caobilla, podocarp 



The only native conifer of Puerto Rico is this 

 medium-sized tree of mountain forests. It is dis- 

 tinguished by the crowded, very narrow, lance- 

 shaped leaves 2i/^-6 inches long and less than 1,0 

 inch wide, long-pointed, leathery, stifi', and with- 

 out visible lateral veins. There are no true flowers 

 or fruits, but the brown seeds %6 iii^h long are 

 borne singly and exposed on an enlarged 2-lobed 

 red juicy base. Pollen is produced on other or 

 male trees (dioecious) in narrow yellow-green 

 cones 1-11/4 inches long and 1/4 ii''<^li i" diameter. 



An evergreen tree becoming 30 feet high and 1 

 foot or more in trunk diameter, with narrow to 

 spi'eading crown. Bark is smoothish and scaly, 

 becoming rough, fissured, shagg^', and peeling off 

 in brown or gray strips about Vi inch thick. Inner 

 bark is pink, tasteless or slightly bitter. Twigs are 

 green and angled when young, becoming brown 

 and round. 



The alternate leaves are narrowed and nearly 

 stalkless at base, sometimes slightly curved or 

 sickle-shaped, with edges straight and slightly 

 turned under, the upper surface dark green and 

 slightly shiny, and lower surface green to yellow 

 gi"een. 



Male or pollen-bearing cones are single at base 

 of leaves, stalkless and cylindrical, yellow green, 

 turning brown after pollen is shed. Seeds are also 

 single at leaf bases, naked, small and gray at time 

 of pollination, brown, elliptic, and pointed at ma- 

 turity. Each seed is attached to a base (recep- 

 tacle) % inch long and broad, which is bright red 

 but becoming dark red and which has a stalk 

 1/4-% inch long. Pollen and seeds are produced 

 nearly through the year. 



Podocarpus coriaceus L. C. Rich. 



The sapwood is whitish or pinkish, and the 

 heartwoocl yellowish or brown. The wood is soft, 

 moderately heavy (specific gravity 0.7), and easily 

 worked. It is suitable for fine cabinetwork and 

 furniture. However, in Puerto Rico the trees are 

 usually small and of poor form and therefore yield 

 little usable wood. 



In upper mountain forests of western Puerto 

 Rico, almost confined to the Maricao Forest but 

 also at Cerro Gordo near San German. Also rare 

 and local as a shrub -4 feet high in the dwarf forest 

 east of El Yunque summit in the Luquillo Moun- 

 tains, eastern Puerto Rico. 



Public forests. — Luquillo, Maricao. 



Range. — Puerto Rico, Lesser Antilles on St. 

 Kitts, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Mar- 

 tinique, and St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. 



Other common names. — caoba del pais (Puerto 

 Rico) ; podocarp, podocarpus (English, com- 

 merce) ; weedee (Nevis) ; wild pitch pine (Mont- 

 serrat) ; raisinier montagne (Dominica) ; wild 

 pine (Trinidad); laurier-rose (Guadeloupe). 



Botanical synonym. — Nageia coriacea (L. C. 

 Rich.) Kuntze. 



This coniferous or cone-bearing tree is classed 

 with the gymnosperms, seed plants without true 

 flowers or fruits but with exposed or naked seeds. 

 Conifers, or softwoods, include some of the world's 

 most valual)le timber trees, such as pines, Douglas- 

 fir, spruces, firs, and cedars. Puerto Rico has three 

 other native species of gymnosperms, dwarf 

 shrubby cycads with enlarged underground stems 

 and known as maranguey (genus Zamia). 



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