Brown pine
Podocarpus elatus, Fam. Podocarpaceae
Straight, medium tree with and irregularly channelled, flanged or fluted trunk, brown bark, often fissured and scaly on mature trees and green branchlets with vertical ribs. Podocarpus from the Greek ‘podos’ a foot and ‘karpos’ fruit, referring to the swolled receptacle on which the seed is seated, and elatus from the Latin meaning tall, referring to the height of the tree.
| Weed Category: | |
| Weed: | No |
| Form or habit: | Med tree |
| Family: | Podocarpaceae |
| Leaf: | Simple, alternate, entire, oblong to linear, less than 1cm wide, glabrous. Glossy, dark green above and paler below. Apex has a stiff point. Venation invisible apart from the midrib. |
| Flower conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Flower colour: |
Brown |
| Flower description: | Dioecious. Male cones occur in sessile, axillary clusters, each cone is narrowly cylindrical, up to 2cm long. Female cones are axillary, consisting of a short, thick stalk with sterile bracts and one or two ovules embedded in a scale. |
| Fruit conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Fruit colour: |
Black, Blue, Green |
| Fruit: | |
| Fruit description: | The scale and ovule/s swell to form a fleshy, swollen stalk or receptacle up to 2.5cm in diameter with a globular, somewhat fleshy and resinous seed on the top. The receptacle is green with a waxy bloom when immature, but blue black and plum like when mature. The seed is 8-12mm in diameter. January to April. |
| Habitat: | Gallery (riverine or riparian) forest, littoral rainforest, rainforest. |
| Distribution | Queensland, New South Wales. |
| Food source for: | Fruit eaten by many birds including the wompoo fruit dove, satin and tooth billed bowerbirds, green catbird and pied currawong. Podocarpus spp. host the aphid species Neophyllaphis brimblecombei and Neophyllaphis gingerensis (Hemiptera). |
| Toxicity: | No toxicity known |
| Origin: | Australia. |
| Notes: | The fleshy fruit stalk is edible although somewhat resinous with a mucilaginous texture. Grow from fresh seed, germination is reliable but may take at least a couple of months. The pale brown timber is tough with a fine grain. |
| Information sources: | Melzer R. & Plumb J. (2007) Plants of Capricornia. |
