Nageia is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. Nageia includes evergreen shrubs and trees, from one to 54 meters in height. A 2009 treatment of the genus recognized five species. Some authors consider Nageia formosensis to be a separate species from Nageia nagi, thus recognizing six species. The podocarp genera have been reshuffled by various botanists. Most recently, several species formerly classed as Nageia were moved to the new genus Retrophyllum, while Nageia falcata and Nageia mannii were moved to the new genus Afrocarpus.
Description
Nageia are evergreen woody plants that usually grow as trees but may also rarely be shrubs, varying in height from one to 54 meters. The branching is irregular. The thin and hard bark often peels with scale-like plates. The leaf petioles are frequently twisted so the leaves form a flat plane around the shoot.
The species of Nageia are distinguished from similar Podocarpus and the other genera in the Podocarpaceae by their broad, flat subopposite leaves with no midrib, superficially similar to those of the unrelated Agathis (Araucariaceae). Nageia is the only genus in Podocarpaceae with multi-veined leaves.
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Gardenology.org-IMG 8126 qsbg11mar.jpg|Broad leaves of N. wallichiana.
Nageia pollen cones.jpg|A pair of male cones of N. nagi.
Podocarpus nagi nagi01.jpg|Female cones of N. nagi with a brown epimatium around the seed.
Nageia fleuryi - 長葉竹柏.jpg|Nageia fleuryi seedling - note Ginkgo biloba seedling in background.
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Distribution
Nageia can be found in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests of Asia and Australasia, from Assam in eastern India across Southeast Asia to southern China and southern Japan, and across Malesia, from the Malay Peninsula across Indonesia to New Guinea and New Britain.
Classification
The genus contains six species: