User:Dracophyllum/Dacrycarpus dacrydioides
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A Podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60m and a life span of 600 years. It was first described botanically by the French botanist Achille Richard in 1832 as Podocarpus dacrydioides, and was given its current binomial name Dacrycarpus dacrydioides in 1969 by the American botanist David de Laubenfels. Analysis of DNA has confirmed its evolutionary relationship with other species in the genera Dacrycarpus and Dacrydium.
Kahikatea | |
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Mature kahikatea tree | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Araucariales |
Family: | Podocarpaceae |
Genus: | Dacrycarpus |
Species: | D. dacrydioides |
Binomial name | |
Dacrycarpus dacrydioides | |
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Natural range of D. dacrydioides | |
Synonyms[2] | |
In traditional Māori culture it is an important source of timber for the building of waka, of food in the form of berries, and as a dye. When Europeans discovered it in the 18th century they found large stands, despite burning of forest by early Māori, in both the North and South Islands, but its use for timber and its preference for a damp habitat, ideal for dairy farming, would lead to its decimation everywhere except South Westland.
Kahikatea seeds have fleshy structures called receptacles attached to them, which encourage birds such as kererū and tūī to eat them and disperse the seeds. The water storage ability of this structures may also be to protect seeds from drying out. They also can support many smaller plants in their own branches, which are called epiphytes; one study recorded 100 species on one tree alone.