Phyllocladus alpinus

Phyllocladus alpinus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnospermae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Araucariales
Family: Podocarpaceae
Genus: Phyllocladus
Species:
P. alpinus
Binomial name
Phyllocladus alpinus

Phyllocladus alpinus, the mountain toatoa or mountain celery pine, is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is found only in New Zealand. The form of this plant ranges from a shrub to a small tree of up to seven metres in height.[1] This species is found in both the North and South Islands.[2] An example occurrence of P. alpinus is within the understory of beech/podocarp forests in the north part of South Island, New Zealand.[3]

The species contains the flavan-3-ols catechin, epicatechin and phylloflavan (ent-epicatechin-3-δ-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-β-hydroxypentanoate).[4]

Phyllocladus alpinus pollen cones and phylloclades.
  1. ^ Leonard Cockayne. 1921. The Vegetation of New Zealand, Published by W. Engelmann, 364 pages
  2. ^ Eagle, Audrey (2008). Eagle's complete trees and shrubs of New Zealand volume one. Wellington: Te Papa Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780909010089.
  3. ^ C. Michael Hogan. 2009
  4. ^ Phylloflavan, a characteristic constituent of Phyllocladus species. Lai Yeap Foo, Liana Hrstich and Christian Vilain, Phytochemistry, Volume 24, Issue 7, 1985, Pages 1495–1498, doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(00)81052-3