Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Podocarpus spinulosus

Branch with male cones. Photographer Don Wood, near Ulladulla

Branches with male cones. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Branch with female cones. Photographer Don Wood, near Ulladulla

Branch with mature female cones. Photographer Don Wood, near Ulladulla

Common name

Spiny-leaf podocarp

Family

Podocarpaceae

Where found

Dry forest, heath, shrubland, cliff tops, and gullies. Coastal north of Moruya, and south from Pambula.

Notes

Shrub or tree to 3 m high. Leaf tips sharp. Stalks of seeds fleshy. Leaves sharp pointed. Bark thin, fibrous. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, crowded, 2-8 cm long, 2–4.5 mm wide, glossy green, tips gradually tapering to a point. Male and female cones on different plants, rarely on the same plant. Male cones 4–8 mm long, 2–4 mm in diameter, single or in clusters of of 1-5 at the bases of the leaves. Mature female cones consisting of a seed 8–15 mm long, 7–10 mm in diameter, with a blue-black to purple, glaucous, fleshy, stalk 6–10 mm long, single.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Podocarpus~spinulosus (accessed 1 February, 2021)