Agathis australis

Dacrycarpus dacrydioides

Phyllocladus toatoa

Podocarpus nivalis.

Prumnopitys taxifolia.

Comments

New Zealand's native gymnosperms are all conifers, representing three families, ten genera and twenty species. All species, but only two genera (Halocarpus and the monotypic Manoao) are endemic to New Zealand. This level of endemism is typical for the vast Austro-Malesian archipelago, where most conifers are island endemics isolated from each other since the Cretaceous. For example, the nearest large island to New Zealand, New Caledonia, has 43 conifer species, all of them endemic. Conifer endemism is also the rule in Australia (including Tasmania), New Guinea, Borneo, and the Philippines.

If you go to New Zealand to see its native conifers, you will find that they vary widely in occurrence and ease of access. A significant fraction of the country is still covered with original native forest. In these areas you can find examples of the largest and oldest forest trees, growing in native habitat. Most of these forests are preserved in National Parks and Forest Reserves administered by the Department of Conservation. See the species descriptions for suggestions about the best places to see each species. You will generally find that the "big five" podocarps - totara, rimu, kahikatea, matai and miro - are very widely distributed in native forest, with totara and rimu also enjoying status as popular ornamentals. Within its North Island range, kauri is also very common, with native groves usually a source of local pride. Most other species are more restricted in range, are not popular as ornamentals, and require some searching to locate. Mount Ruapehu and the surrounding Tongariro National Park are a good place to spot mountain pine, pink pine, silver pine, mountain rimu, pahautea, mountain toatoa, snow totara, and Hall's totara. Puketi or Waipoua forest is a good place to find monoao and toatoa. The other species pretty much have to be sought out in the best parts of their native range.

Species identification in native habitat can be problematic. The podocarps do not retain seed for long, and in any case it is usually borne high in the canopy of forest trees, so it will generally not be available. Big forest trees are often so tall that you cannot even see the foliage, so bark characters and tree form are important in identifying these trees (the Big Five, the cedars, the forest phylloclades and the kauri). The scale-leaved podocarps (Halocarpus, Manoao, and Lepidothamnus intermedius) have very similar foliage and bark characters, so they are particularly problematic. Pay particular attention to juvenile foliage (which, in any case, is often the only kind you will see) and habitat when identifying the scale-leaved podocarps.

Links

The following sites are particularly useful to anyone desiring to tour New Zealand in search of native conifers. I also recommend a Google search for the following Forest Parks and National Parks: Te Urewera, Whirinaki, Taranaki, Ohinetonga, Pureora, Waitakere, Coromandel, Waipoua, Omahuta and Puketi (all on the North Island; I have much less information on the South and Stewart Islands).

Species List

This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.conifers.org/topics/nztrees.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
Last modified on 2008.12.27