Saxegothaea conspicua

Plant Characteristics

Habit		tree
Height:	⇕	50 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 50.
Width:	⇔	15 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
USDA Zones:		8 to 10

Scientific Names

Podocarpaceae >

Saxegothaea >

conspicua >

Saxegothaea is a genus comprising a single species of conifer belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae, its full scientific name is Saxegothaea conspicua, native to southern South America. It grows in Chile and Argentina from 35° to 46° South latitude, in its northernmost natural distribution it grows between 800 and 1000 (2600-3300 ft) m above sea level and in the south it lives at sea level. The species is most often known by its genus name, or sometimes as Female Maniu (a translation of its name in Spanish) and "Prince Albert's Yew", although it is not a yew (Taxus).

It is a slow-growing, long-lived evergreen tree growing to 15-25 m (50-80 ft)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.

Read about Saxegothaea conspicua in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Saxegothaea (in honor of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria). Taxaceae. An evergreen tree, native of Chile, similar in habit and foliage to the yew: monoecious, staminate fls. in cylindrical spikes clustered at the end of the branchlets; pistillate fls. solitary at the end of branchlets: fr. a small stalked irregularly subglobose cone with the scales terminating in spiny flattened points; seeds ovate, keeled, lustrous, brown. The plant is not hardy North and it is doubtful whether it is in cult. in this country; it is of slow growth and has no particular ornamental merit, but botanically it is very interesting. Prop. is by intro. seeds or by cuttings treated like those of taxus; it also may be grafted on taxus or podocarpus. S. conspicua, Lindl. Tree, to 40 ft., with whorled drooping branches: lvs. linear or linear-lanceolate, spiny-pointed, at the base abruptly contracted into a short decurrent stalk, dark green above, with 2 broad white lines beneath, 1/2-l in. long: staminate spikes 1/4 in. long: fr. about 1/2 in. across. S. gracilis, Hort.-Podocarpus nubigena. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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