Podocarpus cunninghamii

Colenso 1884

Common names

Montane totara (Salmon 1996), thin-bark totara, Hall's totara (Metcalf 2002). See also the totara, P. totara.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Podocarpus hallii Kirk 1889, Nageia hallii (Kirk) Kuntze 1891, Podocarpus totara var. hallii (Kirk) Pilg. 1903 (Farjon 1998). The name P. hallii is still widely used by New Zealand botanists and is debatably correct. The debate hinges on the question of whether a narrative account of the species written by William Colenso in 1884 was intended to be taken as a description of the species. Colenso wrote "I should not omit to mention, that on my way down the mountain (Ruahine Range) from the summit, I discovered a plant which I believed to be a new species of Podocarpus and therefore named it P. Cunninghamii (after my dear old friend and early Botanist in N.Z. Allan Cunningham). Its leaves and male amentae with the squamulae at their bases were very much larger than those of P. totara and the amentae were also on long peduncles; its bark, too, was semi-papery, more like that of some large specimens of Fuchsia excorticata, and not at all resembling the bark of P. totara." (Colenso, In Memoriam 1884, Paper II, 58, quoted in Allan 1961). This 'description' is sketchy at best, particularly since Colenso described many species and generally observed contemporary conventions in doing so; his failure to formally publish the description of this species suggests that his 1884 comments were not intended as the published description of a new species. Conversely, Kirk's 1889 publication provides a well illustrated and detailed account that remains the best brief description of the species.

Description

Tree to 20 m tall and 125 cm dbh. Bark thin, papery. Branchlets slender, somewhat drooping on juvenile trees. Leaves brown-green; juvenile foliage 3-7 cm long by 3-5 mm wide, linear-lanceolate; adult foliage smaller, 1.5-3 cm long by 3-4 mm wide, narrow-linear to linear-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, coriaceous, pungent, the midvein usually evident. Pollen cones are 1-2.5 cm long, solitary or up to 5 on a common peduncle, with 4 scales, apiculus obtuse; falling soon after pollen is shed. Ovules solitary or paired; receptacles usually red, swollen and succulent. Seed green, 3-5 mm long, narrow-ovoid, pointed, nutlike (Allan 1961, Metcalf 2002, pers. obs. Mar-2003).

It is most easily distinguished from P. totara, with which it often grows, by its thin and rather papery bark as opposed to the tough, thick and fibrous bark of P. totara (Metcalf 2002).

Range

New Zealand: N Island, S Island and Stewart Island (Farjon 1998). Both this and P. totara are tall, slow-growing forest trees that often grow together in lowland forests from sea level to 600 m, with P. totara giving way to P. cunninghamii above 480 m (Salmon 1996). I have seen it growing in what appear to be two distinct ecological niches in the North Island. The first role is that of montane totara, where it grows as a forest dominant on well drained soils at elevations above 480 m. The second role is that of a codominant tree tolerant of wet soils, in which capacity it grows on very wet substrates at low elevations throughout much of Northland. Examples include trees growing on wet floodplain soils in Waipoua and Trounson Kauri Forests, and trees growing very near mangroves around Auckland.

Big tree

A tree 30 m tall and 265 cm dbh, the 'Motu totara,' is known from Dean Forest, Southland, NZ (Burstall and Sale 1984).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Has been used in at least one climate change study (Burrows and Greenland 1979), and was probably the first New Zealand species to see any dendrochronological use -- in an investigation of Maori archeology (Batley 1956).

Ethnobotany

The bark "was formerly used by southern Maori to encase the kelp bags used for storing muttonbirds. These containers are known as pohatiti" (Metcalf 2002).

Observations

In Tongariro National Park it grows on the track up Hauhungatahi, a subsidiary cone west of Mount Ruapehu. To reach this stand, drive 5.5 km south from the highway junction in National Park to the tiny hamlet of Erua and park near the railroad tracks. Follow the tracks about 250 m south to where a small, weathered sign says 'Track' and follow it. The track heads almost continuously uphill, starting in a flax thicket and then, in the forest, passing progressively through elevation zones dominated by rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia), Hall's totara (Podocarpus cunninghamii), kaikawaka (Libocedrus bidwillii), yellow pine (Halocarpus biformis), mountain toatoa (Phyllocladus alpinus), bog pine (Halocarpus bidwillii) and pygmy pine (Lepidothamnus laxifolius). This species can also be seen growing along an elevational sequence along the Tongariro Crossing, above the Ketetahi trailhead. As noted above, it also grows in very wet soils in Northland; good examples can be seen in Trounson Kauri Forest, along the ridge walk in Puketi Forest, and along the walk to Te Matua Ngahere in Waipoua Forest.

Remarks

Citations

Batley, R.A.L. 1956. Some practical aspects of dendrochronology in New Zealand. Journal of the Polynesian Society 65(3): 232-244 (as Pinus hallii).

See also

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

Paleobotany of Australia and New Zealand conifers.