SA's NATIONAL TREE - Real Yellowwood
The yellowwood family has been present in the southern part of Africa for more than 100 million years, and is officially known as South Africa’s national tree.
Podocarpus latifolius
The species is widespread and found from Table Mountain, along the southern and eastern Cape coast, in the ravines of the Drakensberg to the Soutpansberg and along the Blouberg in the Northern Province.
In forests, the yellowwood can grow up to 40 metres in height with the base of the trunk sometimes up to 3 metres in diameter. The bark of the Real Yellowwood is khaki-coloured to grey when it is old, deeply split and peels off in strips. The crown is relatively small in relation to its height and is often covered with grey lichen. Male and female cones resemble pine cones and are white, light green or pink. The female cone has a fleshy podocarpium on which the seed, which takes on the shape and colour of a cherry, develops.
Sources: BROWNELL, F.G., Nasionale en Provinsiale Simbole. 1993. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications.
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