Description: Trees or shrubs.
Leaves oblong and flat with only the midvein visible, usually alternate, often 2-ranked.
Male cones axillary, sessile or nearly so, usually clustered, sometimes solitary; sporangia 2 on each sporophyll. Female cones with 1 or 2 ovules borne at or near the end of special axillary twigs, the axis beneath the seed becoming swollen and fleshy at maturity, [rarely remaining woody].
Ovules enclosed in an epimatium, becoming leathery or fleshy in fruit.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 94 species, widespread in Southern Hemisphere & southern Asia. Australia: 7 species, Qld, N.S.W., Vic., Tas.
Text by G. J. Harden & J. Thompson
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Leaves >5 mm wide; trees | Podocarpus elatus |
| Leaves usually <5 mm wide; shrubs or small trees | 2 |
| 2 | Leaves >20 mm long, apex acute | Podocarpus spinulosus |
| Leaves <20 mm long, apex usually obtuse
Back to 1 | Podocarpus lawrencei |
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