Saxegothaea

Saxegothaea is a genus comprising a single species of conifer belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae, native to southern South America. The species is most often known by its genus name, or sometimes as "Prince Albert's Yew", although it is not a true yew (Taxus); in South America it is known as Mañío hembra or Maniú hembra.

It is a slow-growing, long-lived evergreen tree growing to 15-25 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter. The bark is thin and flaky to scaly, dark purple-browk. The leaves are arranged in an irregular spiral; they are lanceolate, 1.5-3 cm long, 2 mm broad, fairly hard with a prickly spine tip, dark green above, and with two glaucous blue-white stomatal bands below. The cones are 1 cm long, with 15-20 soft scales; usually only 2-4 scales on each cone are fertile, bearing a single seed 3 mm in diameter.

Saxegothaea is endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests of southern Chile and adjacent parts of Argentina, where it is generally found in association with Pilgerodendron uviferum and Fitzroya cupressoides

External links

• [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Photos of mature trees, bark and foliage at Puerto Blest National Park, Nahuel Huapi, Argentina
• Photo of foliage and immature cone