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  4. Pectinopitys ferruginea

Pectinopitys ferruginea

Bethunes Gully.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 10/08/2014, Licence: All rights reserved.
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>.
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>.
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>.
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>.
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>.
Prumnopitys ferruginea (Miro).<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</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>.
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>.
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>.
Progress Valley, Catlins.<br>Photographer: Jesse Bythell, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Bethunes Gully.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 10/08/2014, Licence: All rights reserved.
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>.
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>.
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>.
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Common names

miro, brown pine

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms

Flower colours

No flowers

Detailed description

Stout tree up to 25 m tall. Trunk 1–1.5 m diameter, in adults clear of branches for ⅔ 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 × 2–3 mm. Male cones (strobili) solitary, axillary, 5–15 mm long. Ovules solitary (rarely paired), on short branchlets ≤ 10 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 baccata), but can be distinguished by their lack of petioles.

Distribution

Endemic. North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura.

Habitat

Common tree of lowland to montane 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.

  • 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

Jump to previous conservation statuses

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.

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Podocarpaceae

Authority

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

Synonyms

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

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.

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

June–August–October

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.

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]

FACU: Facultative Upland

Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).

Other information

Cultural Use/Importance

The large, oily, red fruits are an important part of the diet of the New Zealand pigeon/kererū/kukupā (Hemiphaga novaezelandiae). Indeed, kererū are the only native extand bird species which can disperse these large drupes.

Etymology

ferruginea: Rust coloured

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.

PECFER

Chromosome number

2n = 36

Previous conservation statuses

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.

  • 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.

2017 | Not Threatened

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Jump to current conservation status

Regional conservation statuses

The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.

Otago: 2024 | Regionally Not Threatened

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Allan HH. 1961. Flora of New Zealand, Volume I. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 1085 p.

Bobrov AVFCh, Melikyan AP. 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 CN. 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(3): 137–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2019.1625933.

Attribution

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

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: 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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