YELLOWWOOD

any of about 100 species of coniferous evergreen timber trees and shrubs constituting the genus Podocarpus (family Podocarpaceae) and widely distributed in mountain forests of the Southern Hemisphere. Most have yellowish wood, occasionally brownish or reddish; they are often known locally as brown or black pines. Economically important members of the genus include the brown pine, plum pine, or yellow pine (Podocarpus elatus) of southeastern Australia; the black pine, or matai (P. spicatus), the kahikatea, or white pine (P. dacrydioides), the miro (P. ferrugineus), and the totara (P. totara), all native to New Zealand; kusamaki, or broad-leaved podocarpus (P. macrophyllus), of China and Japan; real yellowwood (P. latifolius), South African yellowwood (P. elongatus), and common, or bastard, yellowwood (P. falcatus) of southern Africa; plum-fir, or plum-fruited, yew (P. andinus) and willowleaf podocarpus, or mao (P. salignus), of the Chilean Andes; and the yacca (P. coriaceus) of the West Indies.