Prumnopitys ferruginea

(G. Benn. ex D. Don) de Laub. 1978

Common names

Miro (Maori), Brown pine.

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Podocarpus ferrugineus G. Benn ex D. Don 1832; Nageia ferruginea (G. Benn. ex D. Don) F. Muell. 1876; Stachycarpus ferrugineus (G. Benn. ex D. Don) Tiegh. 1891 (Farjon 1998).

Description

Tree to 25 m tall and 100 cm dbh with a round crown. Bark finely punctate, scaly, gray-brown, falling in thick flakes. Juvenile leaves light green or brown-red, up to 30 mm long, narrow-linear, acute. Adult leaves 15-25×2-3 mm, dark green, often secund, apex acute, midvein distinct, margins recurved, arranged in a plane on either side of the branchlet with stomata on the lower surface only. Pollen cones solitary, sessile, erect, catkin-like, 0.5-1.5 cm long, arising in the axils of the leaves. Buds of female flowers also arise from leaf axils, taking more than 12 months to ripen; they are usually borne singly at the end of a short axillary branchlet which is covered in small scales. The mature seeds are fully enclosed in a red, fleshy covering ca. 5 mm long, they are broadly oblong to sub-spherical, drupaceous, purplish, with glaucous bloom, up to 20 mm. long. Wood hard, durable, straight-grained (Allan 1961, Salmon 1996).

The bark somewhat resembles that of Prumnopitys taxifolia, but the foliage is quite unique in comparison with all other New Zealand native conifers (pers. obs. Mar-2003).

Range

New Zealand: North, South and Stuart Island, in lowland forest to an altitude of 1,000 m. It is a slow-growing tree, preferring shady situations (Salmon 1996). More information on its habitat.

Ecologically, it appears to be a late-successional forest interior species, regenerating within the forest and typically only achieving canopy dominance after several gap-release events (Lusk and Smith 1998).

Big tree

A specimen 14 m tall and 87 cm dbh grows at New Plymouth, New Zealand (Burstall and Sale 1984).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

The wood is sometimes beautifully figured. It is exploited increasingly as a substitute for matai in weatherboarding and flooring (Salmon 1996).

Observations

It can be seen along tracks in virtually all native forests on the North Island. Some examples include the forests at Te Urewera, Whirinaki, Taranaki, Ohinetonga, Pureora, Waitakere, Coromandel, Waipoua, Omahuta and Puketi Forest Parks and National Parks.

Remarks

Citations

Lusk, C.H., and B. Smith. 1998. Life history differences and tree species coexistence in an old-growth New Zealand rain forest. Ecology 79(3): 795-806.

See also

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

Paleobotany of Australia and New Zealand conifers.