Manoao colensoi
Common names
silver pine, manoao
Synonyms
Dacrydium colensoi Hook., Lagarostrobos colensoi (Hook.) Quinn, Dacrydium westlandicum Hook.f., Lepidothamnus colensoi (Hook.) de Laub.
Family
Podocarpaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
Yes
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms
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.
MANCOL
Chromosome number
2n = 20
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – an interim threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017 . 2018. Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (fom Te Paki south; uncommon in the north, found mainly around the mountains of the Central Volcanic Plateau) and South Island (mainly westerly).
Habitat
Lowland to montane. Typically associated with older, poorly drained surfaces with leached infertile soils, and in acid swamps and peats, notably the pakihi lands of western South Island.
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]
FACW: Facultative Wetland
Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).
Detailed description
Gynodioecious, evergreen trees up to 20 m tall and 1 m diameter, with uniformly erect stems, branches, and branchlets, and strong sucker shoots from horizontal underground stems. Bark on mature trees forming thick irregular scales and vertical scale complexes, shedding slowly, leaving behind distinct hammer marks and wave patterns; outer surface of scales silvery-grey to grey-brown, undersurface crimson, glistening with fresh resin, hard, with silvery-grey, weathered, often scalloped margins; shed bark forming a small raised mound of litter filled with fine roots at base of tree. Roots of mature trees oblique, peg-like, deeply descending; mycorrhizal nodules simple or in extensive branched complexes, epidermal hairs absent. Roots and underground stems of shrubs and sucker shoots forming dense red-brown entanglements; aerenchyma universally present in roots and underground stems under anaerobic conditions. Cotyledons c. 12.0 × 2.0 mm, submembranous, spreading horizontally, epistomatic. Primary axis of seedlings and juveniles erect. Leaves polymorphic; on adult branchlets c. 3.0 × 1.5 mm, rhomboid, scale-like, keeled, closely imbricate and whipcord-like, decurrent at base, spirally arranged, amphistomatic; florin ring distinct though sunken; marginal frill distinct, continuous; older leaves very persistent, brown, semi-woody. Leaves on seedlings at first 5.0–10.0 mm long, subulate, bristle-like, spreading, decurrent at base, spirally arranged, amphistomatic; successive leaves initially longer, becoming progressively shorter, bilaterally flattened, falcate to triangular, graded in size, and secondarily 3-ranked and spiralled; ultimately scale-like, keeled, imbricate. Male cones solitary or rarely paired, terminal on foliage branchlets, sessile, with up to 12 sporophylls each with 2 sporangia; pollen with a thin-walled, finely tuberculate cappa and 2 prominent sacci. Female cones solitary, terminal on foliage branchlets, erect by curvature of cone axis, consisting of 2–6 spoon-shaped ± spreading fertile bracts separated by short internodes, sometimes with a sterile cap; ovules borne in a median position on adaxial surface of fertile bract, initially obliquely inclined towards cone axis and partially inverted, becoming erect at maturity; bracts in distal region of cone sterile, reduced in size. Seeds 1–5, erect, crowded if more than one; c. 3.5 × 2.5 mm, narrowly oblong, rounded in cross-section, with a small rounded recurved micropyle; seed coat purple to black with a glaucous sheen, finely striated; epimatium swollen, fleshy, greenish-yellow, ± smooth-margined, forming a split keeled asymmetrical sheath around base of seed.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from Huon pine (Lagarostrobus franklinii (Tasmania only)) and other New Zealand Podocarpaceae by the combination of having a dimorphic growth habit (juvenile and adult forms), being a shrub to small tree, imbricate scale-like mature foliage leaves have a lax female cone comprised of several spoon-shaped fertile bracts, oblique partially inverted ovules, resiniferous bark, mycorrhizal root nodules lacking epidermal hairs, underground stems, oblong seed rounded in cross-section, and swollen fleshy epimatium
Flowering
Throughout the year
Flower colours
No flowers
Fruiting
Throughout the year
Propagation technique
Easily grown from seed. Can also be grown from hardwood cuttings. A slow growing, attractive small tree, which is tolerant of a wide range of growing conditions.
Etymology
manoao: Derived from the Maori name for the only species in this genus.
colensoi: Named after William Colenso (7 November 1811 - 10 February 1899) who was a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician.
Taxonomic notes
Manoao remains a controversial genus, many botanists retain it in Lagarostrobus and notably de Laubenfels (2015) rather unconvincingly placed it in Lepidothamnus. In New Zealand our preference is to retain it as a genus distinct from these.
Attribution
Prepared by P.J. de Lange for NZPCN, 3 February 2006. Description from Molloy (1995).
References and further reading
de Laubenfels DJ. 2015. Miscellaneous notes in coniferae. Novon 24(2): 130–132. https://www.mbgpress.org/product-p/novon7-2.htm
Molloy BPJ. 1995. Manoao (Podocarpaceae), a new monotypic conifer genus endemic to New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33(2): 183–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.1995.10410483.
Moorfield JC. 2005. Te aka : Māori-English, English-Māori dictionary and index. Pearson Longman, Auckland, NZ. 357 p.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Manoao colensoi Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/manoao-colensoi/ (Date website was queried)