Pinus patula
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
Mexican weeping pine
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Gymnosperms
Flower colours
No flowers
Detailed description
Small or medium tree, reaching to 30 m, with wide spreading branches. Needles up to 30 cm, thin, flexible, held in bundles of three, which droop down below the branches. Bark red-brown, peeling readily to reveal bright orange-brown underbark. Terminal shoots on the branches turn upright, and are surrounded by male cones. Female cones change from pink to brown as they mature, reaching about 8 cm long, often slightly curved and elongated.
Similar taxa
This species is easily distinguished from all other 2–3 needled pines wild in New Z by the very slender, pendulous, grass-green needles and the prominently erect buds which are often at right angles to the shoot. (Webb et al 1988).
Habitat
Terrestrial. Aggressively colonises open forest canopy.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Ecology
Year naturalised
1957
Origin
S. Mexico
Reason for introduction
Forestry
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial; reproduces by wind dispersed seed.
Other information
Extra information
The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme team at Biosecurity New Zealand, a branch of Ministry for Primary Industries, has produced this wilding conifer quick ID guide.
Etymology
patula: Spreading
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
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.
PINPAT
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Webb CJ, Sykes WR, Garnock-Jones PJ. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV. Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons. Botany Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Christchurch, NZ. 1365 p.