Halocarpus biformis
Common names
pink pine, yellow pine
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms
Flower colours
No flowers
Detailed description
Dioecious, shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall. Trunk up to 0.3-0.6 m d.b.h. Bark silvery-grey to grey-brown to dark brown, often patterned with red-brown hammer marks where bark has flaked off, wood pinkish. Foliage dimorphic, change from juvenile to adult abrupt; juveniles and reversion shoots 10-20 mm × 1.5-3 mm (occasionally more) wide, soft, linear, acute, sometimes mucronate; petiole short, broad, twisted, midvein usually distinct; stomatal lines evident; adult leaves scale-like approximately 2 mm long, densely imbricate, appressed, obtuse, prominently keeled, rhomboid, margins hyaline. Final branchlets 3–4 mm diameter sub-tetragonous, not glossy, tips non-curved. Male strobili solitary, terminal, approximately 4 mm long, no wider than branchlet; apiculus triangular, obtuse, keeled. Female cones on separate plant from male strobili. Carpidia solitary or paired, towards apices of branchlets, resembling scale leaves, but subpatent. Ovule ovoid, compressed. Epimatium fused to carpidium at base, coriaceous, surrounding pendulous inverted ovule, integument membranous. Receptacle swollen, orange, succulent. Seed 2–3 mm long, black (when mature), about oblong in outline, compressed.
Similar taxa
Halocarpus bidwillii, which has slenderer branchlets 1-1.5mm, scale leaves not or hardly keeled on the back, fleshy arils are white.
Manoao colensoi, Lepidothamnus intermedius, and Lepidothamnus laxifolius, differ by the transition from juvenile to adult foliage being gradual.
Dacrycarpus dacrydioides and Libocedrus bidwillii differ by having juvenile foliage flattened into a single plane.
Similar to some species of whipcord Veronica without any fertile stages present; V. lycopodioides has scale leaves with parallel grooves either side of a strong keel, and an mucronate apex; V. tetragona has more or less glossy branchlets, with scale leaves lacking a keel or acute apex; V. armstrongii has spaced scale leaves which partially show the internode, each scale leaf also has a pale margin fringed with minute hairs.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (Coromandel Range, Raukumara Range, Te Uruwera through the Central Volcanic Plateau and Kaingaroa Plain south in a patchy distribution to Ruahine Range and Tararua Range), South Island (mostly west of main divide from Kahurangi Range south to Fiordland then patchy from Mount Cargill to Catlins), and Stewart Island.
Habitat
Montane to subalpine scrubland, scrub, and forest.
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: DPS, DPT
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Podocarpaceae
Synonyms
Podocarpus biformis Hook., Dacrydium biforme (Hook.) Pilg.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
Yes
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Fruiting
February-April
Life cycle and dispersal
Arrilate seeds are dispersed by frugivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FAC: Facultative
Commonly occurs as either a hydrophyte or non-hydrophyte (non-wetlands).
Other information
Etymology
halocarpus: From the Greek hals ‘sea’, ‘salty’ and karpos ‘fruit’
biformis: From the Latin words, bis ‘twice’ & fōrmis ‘having form of’, meaning consisting of two forms.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
HALBIF
Chromosome number
2n = 24
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: DP
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. Page 110.
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001.
Wilson, H.D. and Galloway, T., 1993. Small-leaved shrubs of New Zealand. Christchurch: Manuka Press. Pages 250-251.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by M.D. Ward (11 April 2024). Description from Allan (1961), Wilson & Galloway (1993).
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: Ward, M.D. (Year at time of access): Halocarpus biformis Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/halocarpus-biformis/ (Date website was queried)