See text Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.

The family is a classic member of the Antarctic flora, with its main centres of diversity in Australasia, particularly New Caledonia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and to a slightly lesser extent Malesia and South America (primarily in the Andes Mountains).

Members occur mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, with most genetic variety taking place in New Caledonia, New Zealand, and Tasmania.

A few genera are common to New Zealand and South America, supporting the view that podocarps had an extensive distribution over southern Gondwanaland.

Studies of embryology, gametophyte development, female cone structure, and cytology led to the belief that the eight categories probably deserved generic status.

Researchers agreed on the need to recognize "fairly natural groupings which prove to have good geographic and probably evolutionary cohesion" and took the necessary steps to raise each section to generic status.

[9] Studies based on anatomical, biogeographical, morphological, and DNA evidence suggest these relationships: Saxegothaea Halocarpus Lepidothamnus Lagarostrobos Manoao Phyllocladus Prumnopitys Microcachrys Pherosphaera Acmopyle Dacrycarpus Falcatifolium Dacrydium Retrophyllum Nageia Afrocarpus Podocarpus Lepidothamnus Phyllocladus Halocarpus Parasitaxus Lagarostrobos Manoao Pectinopitys Sundacarpus Prumnopitys Saxegothaea Microcachrys Pherosphaera Acmopyle Dacrycarpus Falcatifolium Dacrydium Retrophyllum Afrocarpus Nageia Podocarpus