Phyllocladaceae

Taxonomy

Phyllocladus is sufficiently morphologically distinct from the other Podocarpaceae genera that some botanists have treated them separately in their own family, Phyllocladaceae. However, while at least one molecular phylogenetic analysis found Phyllocladus to be sister to Podocarpussensu stricto and another was equivocal on its position relative to Podocarpaceae s.s., two more recent molecular phylogenetic analyses have placed Phyllocladus within Podocarpaceae as a sister taxon to Lepidothamnus. Morphological analysis supports this placement, and therefore it has been suggested that the distinctive phylloclades in the genus are a synapomorphy.