|
"Nagi" (Podocarpus nagi) belongs to Podocarpaceae (the Yellow-wood family). It is a tall evergreen tree that is distributed from westernmost of Honshu (Yamaguchi pref.) south to Shikoku and Kyushu, the Okinawa islands in Japan, as well as Taiwan and the Hainan island of China. This tall tree grows in the mountain slopes, and can reach about 20m in height. Birk is reddish-brown, and often shedding in large flake. Leaves are elliptic and opposite with fine parallel veins. From May to June, columnar male flowers and female flowers with 1-2 ovules are seen on the axils. Fruits are round drupes, ripen brown in fall. The Japanese name is derived from the leaf shape, which resembles that of "Heartshape false pickerelweed" (Monochoria vaginalis), a member of the family Pontederiaceae. In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "竹柏".
|