The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Podocarps

Halocarpus bidwillii at Mount Ruapehu, Tongariro National Park. Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth

Podocarps are trees or shrubs that have linear or scale-like leaves and are usually dioecious. They have a female cone that is usually reduced to one ovule with a seed bearing bract or fruit. The name podocarp means 'foot seed' which refers to the position of the seed at the foot of the fruit rather than being enclosed by it.

There are eight genera with native species in New Zealand:

• Podocarpus
• Dacrydium
• Prumnopitys
• Dacrycarpus
• Halocarpus
• Lepidothamnus
• Manoao 

Dacrycarpus dacrydioides seedling at Trounson Kauri Park. Photographer: Jeremy Rolfe

For more information see*

• Podocarp-hardwood forests (DOC website)
• The New Zealand lowland podocarp forest. Is it sub-tropical? by John Dawson (1962). Tuatara 9 (3).
• Light environments in temperate New Zealand podocarp rainforests by Dale McDonald and David Norton (1992). NZ Journal of Ecology 16(1) 15 - 22
• Susceptibility of New Zealand podocarp timbers to Hylotrupes Bajulus Linneaus by R.H. Milligan
• Comparative seedling growth of five endemic New Zealand podocarp species under different light regimes by R.L. Ebbett and John Ogden (1998). NZ Journal of Botany 

*The Network is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

This page last updated on 5 Oct 2012