Common Names

Needle-leaved totara, Westland totara.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Nageia acutifolia (Kirk) Kuntze 1891; Nageia kirkiana Kuntze 1891 (Farjon 1998). Type locality near source of Buller River (Allan 1961).

Description

Shrub or small tree up to 9 m tall and up to 50 cm in diameter. Bark thin, peeling off in short strips or flakes. Leaves straight, narrow, needle-pointed, 1.5-2.5 cm × 0.75-3.5 mm, midvein indistinct, green in shaded settings but a distinctive yellow-green in open areas. Pollen cones 1-2 cm long, axillary, solitary or up to 4 together on common peduncle 2-3 mm long; peduncle furnished above with 2 narrow-triangular keeled scales and below with 4 ovate scales; apiculus obtuse. Ovules solitary or rarely paired on a peduncle 1 mm long; receptacle of 2 obtuse scales usually red, swollen and succulent. Seeds narrowly ovoid (Allan 1961, Metcalf 2002).

Range

New Zealand: S Island, Marlborough Sounds to Nelson and then down the western side of the island to south Westland (43° 50' S), in lowland and montane forest and scrub (Allan 1961). Varied soils; rainfall more than 800 mm/yr (NZERN 2001).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Subject to a fungal leaf spot disease caused by Corynelia tropica (Hood 1985).

Citations

Kirk. 1883. Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 16: 370.

NZERN. 2001. Plant Fact - Podocarpus acutifolius. http://www.bush.org.nz/plant/fact/Podocarpus_acutifolius.html (15-Feb-2003).

See Also

Search for information on this species at the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network.