Bois bouchon

Description

Retrophyllum minus, the bois bouchon, is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is endemic to New Caledonia. It is a sparsely branched small tree with a flared trunk which tapers towards the top and has rough bark. It produdes pear-shaped fruits that are dark-red when mature. The species occurs near rivers and lakes of the Plaine des Lakes in the south of Grande Terre. It is threatened by habitat loss to mining and wildfire. Retrophyllum is a genus of conifers in the family Podocarpaceae. It contains five generally recognized extant species with a disjunct distribution in the Southern Hemisphere, found in Papuasia and also in South America. Retrophyllum are evergreen trees typically occurring in tropical rainforests and cloud forests. Retrophyllum are evergreen trees. They range in size from dwarfed to very large, reaching heights in excess of 40 and potentially 60 meters. Resin canals are found in both leaves and the seed cones. The bark is usually smooth at first, becoming fissured or flaking with age. The leaves are generally flat with a decurrent base and a spreading blade, but leading and cone-bearing shoots may also have small appressed scale-like leaves. The base phyllotaxis or leaf arrangement is spiral though the leaves usually form subopposite and nearly decussate pairs. The leaves of a lateral shoot are further twisted at their petioles to form two pectinate rows in a horizontal plane around the shoot. The leaf petioles in Retrophyllum are uniquely twisted on the lateral shoots in opposite directions on each side of a shoot orienting the leaf blades with the adaxial or ventral surface upwards on one side of the shoot and the abaxial or dorsal surface upwards on the opposite side of the shoot. The leaf blade varies in shape from lanceolate to narrowly ovate. The leaves have conspicuous midribs and are amphistomatic with stomata present on both sides. Retrophyllum are dioecious with male pollen cones and female seed cones on separate individual trees. The male pollen cones may be axillary or terminal and solitary or grouped. They have glabrous peduncles. A pollen cone consists of many spirally arranged microsporophylls each with two pollen sacs producing bisaccate pollen.