Kahikatea

  • 18 April 2025

Dacrycarpus dacrydioides

kahikatea - Carter Scenic Reserve, Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Date taken: 01/04/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank'  data-cke-saved-href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message'  data-cke-saved-href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a> Fruiting, Hokonui Hills, Southland.<br>Photographer: Jesse Bythell, Date taken: 05/05/2016, Licence: <a target='_blank'  data-cke-saved-href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message'  data-cke-saved-href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a> Fruit. Kaitoke, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 13/01/2015, Licence: <a target='_blank'  data-cke-saved-href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message'  data-cke-saved-href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a> Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 05/09/2004, Licence: <a target='_blank'  data-cke-saved-href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message'  data-cke-saved-href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a> Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 05/09/2004, Licence: <a target='_blank'  data-cke-saved-href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message'  data-cke-saved-href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a> Kahikatea fertilised cones.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain. Kahikatea.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain. Kahikatea.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain. Bruce Park, 5km south of Hunterville.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/07/2006, Licence: <a target='_blank'  data-cke-saved-href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message'  data-cke-saved-href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a> Trounson Kauri Park.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 17/07/2006, Licence: <a target='_blank'  data-cke-saved-href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message'  data-cke-saved-href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

Common names

kahikatea, white pine

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms

This conifer is New Zealand’s tallest indigenous plant growing up to 65m. It is found in lowland forest, formerly dominant on frequently flooded or poorly drained alluvial soils. It was once the dominant tree of a distinct swamp forest type all but extinct in the North Island—the best examples remain on the West Coast of the South Island.

Flower colours

No flowers

Detailed description

Stout, dioecious, cohort-forming conifer, 50–(65) m tall. Trunk 1–(2) m diam., often fluted and buttressed. Bark grey to dark-grey, falling in thick, sinuous flakes. Wood white, odourless. Trunks bare for ¾ of length, subadults with a distinctive columnar growth habit, branches arising from ⅓–½ trunk length. Branchlets slender, drooping. Leaves of juveniles subdistichous, subpatent, narrow-linear, subfalcate, acuminate, decurrent, 3–7 × 0.5–1mm red, wine-red, dark-green to green; of subadults less than or equal to 4 mm., dark green or red; those of adults 1–2 mm., imbricating, appressed, keel, subtrigonous, lanceolate-subulate to acuminate with broader base, brown-green or glaucous. Male cones terminal, oblong, 10 mm. Pollen pale yellow. Ovule, terminal, solitary glaucescent. Receptacle fleshy, oblong, compressed, warty, 2.5–6.5 mm, yellow to orange-red. Seed broadly obovate to circular (4)–4.5–6 mm diam., purple-black, thickly covered in glaucous bloom.

Similar taxa

A distinctive tree of usually swampy alluvial terraces. The columnar growth form of subadults, buttressed and fluted trunk bases, scale-like leaves, and terminal fruits bearing the distinctive circular seeds serve to immediately distinguish this species from all other indigenous conifers.

Distribution

Endemic. North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura.

Habitat

Lowland forest, formerly dominant on frequently flooded, and/or poorly drained alluvial soils. Occasionally extends into lower montane forest. Once the dominant tree of a distinct swamp forest type all but extinct in the North Island—the best examples remain on the West Coast of the South Island.

Current conservation status Help

2023 | Not Threatened

Threats

Not Threatened, although as a forest-type it has been greatly reduced through widespread logging. Very few intact examples of kahikatea-dominated forest remain in the North Island.

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Podocarpaceae

Authority

Dacrycarpus dacrydioides (A.Rich.) de Laub.

Synonyms

Dacrydium excelsum D.Don in Lamb., Dacrydium ferrugineum Houttee ex Gord., Dacrydium thuioides Banks et Solander ex Carr., Nageia excelsa Kuntze, Podocarpus dacrydioides Richard, Podocarpus thujoides R.Br. In Bennett, Podocarpus excelsus (D.Don) Druce; Podocarpus excelsus (D. Don.) Druce

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

October–January

Fruiting

February–April

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed. Can be grown from hard-wood cuttings but rather slow to strike.

Wetland plant indicator status rating Help

FAC: Facultative

Commonly occurs as either a hydrophyte or non-hydrophyte (non-wetlands).

https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/dacrycarpus-dacrydioides/

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