I first encountered Podocarpus trees in southern California where they are used a lot for landscaping. Podocarpus is one of nearly twenty genera in the Podocarpaceae family, which overall includes around 150 species. Members of this family are of Antarctic origin and today are found in the south Pacific, Australasia and parts of Africa and South America. For a long time I had imagined Podocarpus trees to be natives of China, when in fact their roots are deep in the southern hemisphere.
I remember riding my bike past a very tall Podocarpus tree in Tustin, CA. I also remember stumbling upon an amazing website called California Big Trees -- californiabigtrees.calpoly.edu -- which is an official register of the largest known specimens of various species within the state. I seem to remember that the Podocarpus I knew from my bike rides was listed as the biggest in the state. That was over ten years ago though, and now I find no record of it. Maybe it was cut down?
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