Patagonian yew

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Patagonian yew
Saxegothea conspicua 2.jpg

Patagonian yew ( Saxegothaea conspicua )

Systematics
Subdivision : Seed plants (Spermatophytina)
Class : Coniferopsida
Order : Conifers (Coniferales)
Family : Stonecaceae (Podocarpaceae)
Genre : Patagonian yew trees
Type : Patagonian yew
Scientific name of the  genus
Saxegothaea
Lindl.
Scientific name of the  species
Saxegothaea conspicua
Lindl.

The Patagonian yew ( Saxegothaea conspicua ) is the only species of the plant genus Saxegothaea in the family of the stone yew family (Podocarpaceae) within the coniferous family (Pinophyta).

description

Habitus
Branch with leaves and a young female cone
Illustration by Matilda Smith , John Nugent Fitch in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, London. , Volume 142 (= Series 4, Volume 12), 1916, plate 8664

Vegetative characteristics

The Patagonian yew is a slow-growing, evergreen tree that reaches heights of 15 to 25 meters. It forms a slender, cone-shaped tree crown , but often also grows broad and bushy. The branches are sloping and the twigs droop. The bark is smooth and reddish to purple-brown; in old age it flakes off in large, thin scales, leaving pinkish-red spots on the trunk. The hanging young twigs are heaped at the ends of the branches ; their bark is green for the first 3 to 4 years.

The leaves are 1.5 to 2.5 inches long and 2 millimeters wide. The leaves on the fresh shoot are tinged a little purple. Later the leaves are dark green, hard and curved. They are sharply pointed and quite close together. Each sheet has two white bands on the underside; The middle rib and edge are apple green. The crushed leaves smell of grass.

Generative characteristics

Saxegothaea conspicua is single sexed ( monoecious ). The male flowers are 1 millimeter small, egg-shaped and dark purple in color; 10 to 20 of them are side by side on the branches. The female cones are terminally on short shoots and initially resemble a small cone; later a small rosette of outwardly curved fleshy cone scales forms, which look blue-gray floured; the entire cone is about 0.5 by 1 centimeter.

Occurrence

The Patagonian yew tree is native to southern South America (in southern Chile in the coastal mountains and Argentina ). It thrives at medium altitudes up to the upper tree line between 500 and 2000 meters.

Systematics

The genus Saxegothaea was founded in 1851 with the first description of Saxegothaea conspicua by John Lindley in the Journal of the Horticultural Society of London. , Volume 6, page 258. A synonym for Saxegothaea Lindl. is Squamataxus J. Nelson . A synonym for Saxegothaea conspicua Lindl. is Squamataxus albertiana J. Nelson . Both the botanical genus name Saxegothaea and the common English name "Prince Albert's Yew" honors Prince Franz August Carl Albert Emanuel of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland .

Saxegothaea conspicua is the only species of the genus Saxegothaea within the family Podocarpaceae .

use

In Central Europe it is not hardy , so it can only be found here in botanical gardens. In the British Isles , however, it is sufficiently hardy and is sometimes used there in parks and gardens.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. Saxegothaea conspicua in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2020.1. Listed by: M. Gardner, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2020. (2013: NT)
  2. ^ Curtis's Botanical Magazine, London. , Volume 142 (= Series 4, Volume 12), 1916, plate 8664 scanned in at botanicus.org .
  3. a b c Saxegothaea at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed May 14, 2019.
  4. Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names. Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. online.

Web links

Commons : Patagonian yew ( Saxegothaea conspicua )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files