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  4. Pectinopitys ferruginea

Pectinopitys ferruginea

Bethunes Gully.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 10/08/2014, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Eastern Hutt hills.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 24/02/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/09/2004, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Miro female cone.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain.
Miro male cone.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain.
Stachypitys (Prumnopitys) ferrugineus.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Keith George Scenic Reserve, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 05/04/2006, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Kaitoke Regional Park.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/12/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Ruahine Range.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Date taken: 01/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Prumnopitys ferruginea (Miro).<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Seeds of Prumnopitys ferruginea.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Prumnopitys ferruginea (Miro) at Te Pahu.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Tararua Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 20/11/2011, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Progress Valley, Catlins.<br>Photographer: Jesse Bythell, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Bethunes Gully.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 10/08/2014, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Keith George Scenic Reserve, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 05/04/2006, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Boulder Hill, western Hutt hills, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/03/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 06/06/2015, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

miro, brown pine

Synonyms

Podocarpus ferruginea D.Don, Stachypitys ferruginea (D.Don) Bobrov et Melikyan nom. illegit., Stachycarpus ferruginea (D.Don) Tieghem, Prumnopitys ferruginea (D.Don) Laubenf.

Family

Podocarpaceae

Authority

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

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

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.

PRUFER

Chromosome number

2n = 36

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

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). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By 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.

2012 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Endemic. North, South and Stewart Islands.

Habitat

Common tree of lowland to montane forest.

Features

Stout tree up to 25 m tall. Trunk 1-1.5 m diam., in adults clear of branches for 2/3 of length. Bark thick, grey. Falling in thick, sinuous flakes. Leaves feathery, dark green, green to bronze-green, distichous, erect, narrow-linear, acute, falcate to subfalcate, acute to subacute, mid vein distinct, margins recurved, juveniles up to 30 mm long, those of adults 15-25 x 2-3 mm. Male cones (strobili) solitary, axillary, 5-15 mm long. Ovules solitary (rarely paired), on short branchlets 10 or less mm. long. Fruit a broadly oblong to sub–spherical red, pink-red fleshy drupe up to 20 mm long - fleshy, oily, smelling and tasting strongly of terpenes. Stone elliptic to broadly elliptic 11-17 mm long, dark brown to black-brown.

Similar taxa

The bright green to bronze-green, feathery foliage, and pink-red, to red plum-like drupes are quite unlike any other New Zealand conifer. However young miro plants might be confused with yew (Taxus baccatus), but can be distinguished by their lack of petioles.

Flowering

June - August - October

Flower colours

No flowers

Fruiting

Fruits take 12-18 months to mature. Ripe fruits are mainly found from November - April

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed. Seed may take up to 2 years to germinate. Can be grown from hard-wood cuttings but rather slow to strike.

Threats

Not Threatened, although as a forest-type it has been greatly reduced through widespread logging. Very few intact examples of miro-dominated forest remain in the country.

Etymology

ferruginea: Rust coloured

Cultural Use/Importance

The large, oily, red fruits are an important part of the diet of the New Zealand Wood Pigeon/Kereru/Kukupa (Hemiphaga novaezelandiae).

Taxonomic Notes

Stachypitys proposed by Bobrov & Melikyan (2000) is regarded as illegitimate because it is a parahomonym of Stachyopitys a fossil conifer genus. More recently Page (2019) created the genus Pectinopitys to accommodate New Zealand miro, allied species in Eastern Australia (one), New Caledonia (one), and three South American species. It has long been recognised that miro was an ‘ill fit’ in Prumnopitys, which was why Bobrov & Melikayn (2000) made an attempt to move it out of that genus, so this more recent segregation should come as no surprise.

Attribution

Prepared by P.J. de Lange for NZPCN, 3 February 2006. Description based on Allan (1961)

References and further reading

Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I. Government Printer, Wellington

Bobrov, A.V.F.Ch.; Melikyan, A.P. 2000: Morphology of female reproductive structures and an attempt of the construction of phyogenetic system of orders Podocarpales, Cephalotaxales and Taxales. Botanicheskii Zhurnal (Moscow & Lenningrad) 85(7):50–68.

Page, C.N. 2019: New and maintained genera in the taxonomic alliance of Prumnopitys s.l (Podocarpaceae), and circumscription of a new genus: Pectinopitys. New Zealand Journal of Botany 57(1): 137-153.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Pectinopitys ferruginea Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/pectinopitys-ferruginea/ (Date website was queried)

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