Podocarpus henkelii Stapf ex Dallim. & Jacks.

            Family: Podocarpaceae (Yellowwood Family)         
Common names: Henkel's Yellowwood (Eng), Henkel-se geelhout (Afr), UmSonti (Zulu)

It has grey and ridged branchlets and the young shoots are pale green and angular. The leaves are simple, short stalked, lanceolate-oblong, 9-12cm long, sharp pointed, with entire and slightly revolute (rolled under) margins. They are spirally arranged, often crowded at the end of the branchlets, and more or less pendulous. The longer, droopy leaves make it easy to distinguish this species from the other yellowwoods growing in South Africa. Podocarpus henkelii has straight or somewhat falcate (sickle-shaped) leaves, hence it was once called the falcate yellowwood. This name had to be dropped because it was confused with Podocarpus falcatus, the           Outeniqua yellowwood. The leaves of Henkel's yellowwood are bright green to bluish green and glossy above, dull green with a           prominent midrib below. The young leaves are pale green and soft. 

This handsome tree is dioecious, i.e. it has male and female reproductive organs on separate plants. Yellowwoods belong to a primitive group of plants called the Gymnospermae. Gymnosperms, often called conifers, are cone-bearing plants, distinguished from the other major plant group, the Angiospermae or flowering plants, as their ovules and resultant seeds are borne unprotected in the cone whereas in angiosperms the ovules and seeds are protected in an ovary. Other gymnosperms include cycads, pines and cypresses. Male Podocarpus henkelii cones are erect, pink, and 2-3cm long and are solitary or in clusters of up to 5. Female cones are solitary, but shortly stalked. The seed is large and roundish and 1,5-2cm in diameter and olive green to yellowish green when ripe.

Seed is dispersed by birds. Large old yellowwood trees form the perferred nesting sites of the Cape Parrot (Poicephalus robustus) and the kernels of the seeds are a major source of food for this bird.

Podocarpus henkelii is found from the former Transkei in the Eastern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal. It is most abundant in moist inland forest, locally common in montane forest of the Northern KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg. The largest concentrations of Podocarpus henkelii are found in areas between Mt Ayliff, Kokstad and Harding.

Podocarpus henkelii is moderately drought-resistant and frost hardy. This is a highland forest species that grows best on moist sites with high rainfall and deep doleritic soils.

Podocarpus henkelii was named after Dr JS Henkel (1871-1962) a conservator for forests in the Cape Province and KwaZulu-Natal, and later director of forestry in Zimbabwe. He was the first to recognise that this is not a variety of Podocarpus latifolius but a distinct species. The genus name is derived from Greek words podos a foot and karpos a fruit, referring to the fleshy fruit-stalks in some species.

YOU ARE BIDDING ON ONE SEED MONEY BACK IF THIS SEED DO NOT GROW UNDER THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT WILL BE INCL IN PACKET.

THE TREE SEEDS IN NOT EASY TO FIND ONES A YEAR WE COLLECT THEM,THIS YELLOW WOOD TREE MAKES THE BEST BONSAI TREE IN THE WORLD EVEN THE MINI ONE TWO.

REGARDS