Pectinopitys ferruginea (G. Benn. ex D. Don) C.N.Page

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Pectinopitys ferruginea' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pectinopitys/pectinopitys-ferruginea/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Common Names

  • Miro

Synonyms

  • Nageia ferruginea (G.Benn ex D.Don) F.Muell.
  • Podocarpus ferrugineus G. Benn. ex D. Don
  • Prumnopitys ferruginea (G.Benn ex D.Don) de Laub.

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    strobilus
    Cone. Used here to indicate male pollen-producing structure in conifers which may or may not be cone-shaped.

    References

    There are no active references in this article.

    Credits

    Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

    Recommended citation
    'Pectinopitys ferruginea' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pectinopitys/pectinopitys-ferruginea/). Accessed 2024-03-29.


    Editorial Note

    The text below is from New Trees (Grimshaw & Bayton 2009) who discussed this taxon under the name Prumnopitys ferrugineus. Prumnopitys has since been split (see genus article) and we have created this hybrid article – New Trees text under the correct modern name, with appropriate synonymy – whilst we await sponsorship to enable a full revision of this genus to be written. We are reorganising the Podocarpaceae text in this way to enable a new revision of Podocarpus to be published in 2023.

    TC, January 2023.


    Tree to 25 m, 1.3 m dbh. Bark greyish brown, falling in thick flakes, leaving a distinct ‘hammer-mark’ pattern. Juvenile leaves to 3 cm long, narrow-linear; adult leaves sessile, 1.5–2.5 × 0.2–0.3 cm, falcate, midrib prominent, apex acute to subacute, margins recurved. Dioecious. Male cones solitary, axillary, sessile to subsessile, 0.5–1.5 cm long. Female cones solitary or rarely paired, to 2 cm long at maturity, on short branchlets to 1 cm long, the bases of which are densely covered with scales; seeds oblong to globose, covered by a fleshy, purple epimatium. Allan 1961. Distribution NEW ZEALAND: North Is., South Is., Stewart Is. Habitat Lowland forests. Seeds are distributed by the New Zealand Pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae). USDA Hardiness Zone 9. Conservation status Lower Risk. Illustration NT18, NT656. Cross-references B285, K255 (in both cases as Podocarpus ferrugineus). Taxonomic note The epithet ferruginea refers to the rusty colour of dried herbarium specimens.

    Prumnopitys ferruginea is rare in cultivation, due to its lack of hardiness and its general unavailability. It is grown in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in the British Isles specimens are scattered along the western maritime fringes, the tallest being found in the John F. Kennedy Arboretum, Co. Wexford (up to 9.5 m, measured in 2003 by Aubrey Fennell, TROBI). Hillier & Coombes (2002) recorded that it was flourishing in a garden at Helens Bay, Co. Down, but no further news of this specimen has been traced (A. Coombes, pers. comm. 2008). Another example, 9 m tall, was recorded on Tresco in 1970, and there are old records of small trees in Sussex gardens (TROBI), but it is not known if these still exist. At Tregrehan a specimen planted in 1995 had achieved 2.5 m in 2005. As a young plant at least, its foliage bears a strong resemblance to a Yew (Taxus baccata), and this leaf shape is maintained into adulthood – unlike in P. taxifolia where the leaves change shape as the tree matures. In cultivation P. ferruginea shows no sign of developing into the large timber tree it can become in New Zealand.