Podocarpaceae
Trees or shrubs with linear or scale-like leaves, usually dioecious, female cone usually reduced to one ovule with a
fleshy epimatium or receptable.
Eight genera with native species in New Zealand, Podocarpus,
Dacrydium, Prunnopitys, Dacrycarpus,
Halocarpus, Lepidothamnus, and
Manoao.
There has been extensive revision of the New Zealand Podocarpaceae since the publication of Flora Vol. I. Of the genera currently recognised, only two,
Podocarpus and Dacrydium, are listed in the flora and these have
since been split to give the eight currently recognised genera. Part of the
text on this page has been modified from Allan (1961).
Podocarpus
Trees or shrubs with stringy lose bark and linear
leaves. Female cone on naked peduncles,
bracts swell and form a fleshy red receptacle.
There are four endemic species in New Zealand, P. totara (totara), P. hallii (Hall’s totara), P. acutifolius and P. nivalis (snow totara).
Podocarpus totara (totara)
A
tall tree reaching 30 m with thick stringy bark, leaves
13-25 mm, juveniles longer than adult, spreading and pungent. Male cones in groups of 1-3, female 1-2 on a
short swollen peduncle. Fruit a subglobose to ovoid nut, 4-5 mm long sitting on a swollen
red peduncle. Lowland
to montane forest from North Cape to SE Otago.
From
left to right: Podocarpus totara tree; male cones; and foliage and fruit,
note the green fruit on the bright red peduncle, typical of this genus.
Podocarpus hallii (Hall’s totara)
A tree reaching 20 m, closely related to Podocarpus totara but distinguished from it by having thin stringy
bark, longer juvenile leaves (25-40 mm), the fruit is narrow-ovoid 6-7 mm long
and has a short, broad beak. Grows in lowland to subalpine forest
throughout the whole country.
Left: foliage of Podocarpus
hallii, right: close up of foliage and fruit,
note the beak on the end of the fruit not found in totara.
Left: foliage and male cones of Podocarpus
actifolius; right: close up of foliage and fruit
of P. nivalis (snow totara).
Prumnopitys
Trees with bark in thick flakes. The female cones are on scaly peduncles, the fruit is fleshy but doesn’t have a fleshy
receptacle. There are two endemic
species in New Zealand. Prumnopitys ferruginea (miro) and P. taxifolia (matai)
Prumnopitys ferruginea (miro)
A tree reaching 35 m with very dark, almost black, hammer
marked bark. Leaves are 13-20 mm long,
linear, curved, with recurved margins. The male cones are solitary and the female
sit on a curved scaly stalk. The 2cm
long fruit is oblong with a fleshy outer layer that is reddish purple. Grows in lowland to montane
forest throughout New Zealand. Previously known as Podocarpus ferrugineus.
Left:
wind shaped Prumnopitys ferruginea on Kaitake
Range, right: close up of foliage and fruit.
Prumnopitys ferruginea (matai)
A tree reaching 40 m with bluish, hammer marked bark. Juvenile plants are sparsely leaved long
slender flexuous branches. Leaves are 15-20 mm long, linear, straight or only
slightly curved and blue-green below.
Cones are held in spikes, the fruit in 1cm in diameter, globose, black with a fleshy outer layer. Grows in lowland to montane
forest throughout New Zealand. Previously known as Podocarpus spicatus.
Lone Prumnopitys
ferruginea tree,
Dacrycaprus
One endemic species in New Zealand, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides
(kahikatea).
A tree reaching 60m which often is buttressed at the base with dark grey
hammer marked bark. Juvenile
leaves 4-6 mm long, linear and in two rows, adults 2-3 mm long. Male cones are solitary and terminal, female
very small, solitary and terminal on a swollen peduncle. The fruit is an dark
ovoid nut 4 mm long and sits on a succulent, yellowy-orange to red pear-shaped
peduncle. Mostly found in lowland to
montane alluvial and swamp forests throughout the country. Previously known as Podocarpus
dacrydioides.
Left: foliage, note the male cones on the tips of the
branches; Right: close up of kahikatea fruit.
Dacrydium
One endemic species in New Zealand, Dacrydium
cupressium (rimu, red
pine). A tree reaching 50 m
with dark brown bark that scales off in large flakes and weeping
branchlets. The juvenile leaves are 4-6 mm
long and needle like, while the adult leaves are 2-3 mm long and appressed. Male
cones are terminal, singular or in pairs, about 5 mm long, female cone on the
end of recurved twigs. The nut is 3 mm long, usually on a red fleshy
receptacle and bract, but it is sometimes dry.
Grows in lowland to montane forest throughout New
Zealand.
From left to right: Rimu tree;
close up of foliage showing the males cones on the tips of the branchlets and
close up of the fruit showing the nut sitting on the swollen fleshy receptacle.
Halocarpus
Trees or shrubs with flat, linear
juvenile leaves that abruptly change to small scale-like overlapping adult
leaves. The female cones are
held on the tips of the branches. The
seed is not fleshy but has a white fleshy collar at the base. The genus contains only three species, Halocarpus kirkii
(monoao), H. biformis (pink
pine) and H. bidwillii (bog pine),
all of which are endemic to New Zealand.
Previously placed in Dacrydium.
Left:
Halocarpus bidwillii
plant; Right: close up of the foliage of L. bidwillii.
Lepidothamnus
Small trees or prostrate scrambling shrubs with narrow,
linear, spreading juvenile leaves which give way by gradual transition to appressed, strongly keeled scale like leaves. The male cones are solitary, female solitary
and terminal. The genus contains three species, one in Chile and two endemic to
New Zealand, Lepidothamnus intermedius (yellow-silver pine) and L.
laxifolius (pygmy pine). Previously known as Dacrydium
intermedium and D. laxifolium
respectively.
Foliage and fruit of L. laxifolius. Note the
distinctive fruit, an approximately 3mm long nut sitting on a large red fleshy
aril.
Manoao (Lagarostrobos)
This genus contains only one species, the New Zealand
endemic Manoao colensoi (silver pine). A small tree with bark that
scales off in small flakes and is red-silver underneath. The juvenile leaves are 6-13 mm in diameter,
spreading and almost round in cross section.
The juvenile form is long-persistent and passes gradually into closely appressed 1.5-2.5 mm long adult leaves. The bracts of the female cones are lax and
spreading and located on branches with decurved
tips. Found in lowland to montane forest
North of 44º
This species was originally placed in Dacrydium, then
assigned to Lagarostrobos with a species from
Tasmania and now is in a monospecific genus of its
own.
KEYS
Families
Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand, Volume I, Government Printer, Wellington
Poole, A. L. & N. M. Adams 1994: Trees and shrubs of New Zealand. Government Printer, Wellington.
Genera in Podocarpaceae
Connor, H.E. & Edgar, E. 1987: Name changes in the indigenous New Zealand flora, 1960-1986 and Nomina Nova IV, 1993-1986. New Zealand Journal of Botany 25(1): 115-170.
Quinn,
C.J. 1982: Taxonomy of Dacrydium Sol. ex Lamb. emend.
de Laub. (Podocarpaceae).
Australian Journal of Botany30: 311-320.
References
Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand, Volume I, Government Printer, Wellington.
Connor, H.E. & Edgar, E. 1987: Name changes in the indigenous New Zealand flora, 1960-1986 and Nomina Nova IV, 1993-1986. New Zealand Journal of Botany 25(1): 115-170.
Markham, K.R., R.F. Webby, B.P.J. Molloy & C. Vilian 1989: Support from flavonoid glycoside distribution for the division of Dacrydium sense lato. New Zealand Journal of Botany 27: 1-11.
Molloy, B. P. J. 1996: A new species name in Phyllocladus (Phyllocladaceae) from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 34(3):287-297.
Molloy, B. P. J. 1996: Manoao (Podocarpaceae), a new monotypic conifer genus endemic to New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 183-201.
Molloy, B. P. J. & K. R. Markham 1999: A contribution to the taxonomy of Phyllocladus (Phyllocladaceae) from the distribution of key flavonoids. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 37(3):375-382.
Poole, A. L. & N. M. Adams 1994: Trees and shrubs of New Zealand. Government Printer, Wellington.
Quinn,
C.J. 1982: Taxonomy of Dacrydium
Sol. ex Lamb. emend. de Laub. (Podocarpaceae). Australian Journal of Botany30:
311-320
Webb, C.J., W.R. Sykes & P.J. Garnock-Jones 1988: Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV, DSIR Wellington.
Bobrov, A.V.CH., A.P. Melikian, & E.YU. Yembaturova 1999: Seed morphology, anatomy and ultrastructure of Phyllocladus L.C. & A. Rich. ex Mirb. (Phyllocladaceae (Pilg.) Bessy) in connection with the generic system and phylogeny. Annals of Botany 83: 601-618.