All Topics  
Podocarpus totara

 
Podocarpus Totara

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Podocarpus totara
 
 
  Topics Podocarpus totara Topic Home

Podocarpus totara (totara) is a species of podocarp
Podocarpus

Podocarpus is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. The 105 species of Podocarpus are evergreen shrubs or trees from 1-25 m in height....
 endemic to New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. It grows throughout the North Island
North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. The island is 113,729 square km in area, making it the List of islands by area....
 and northeastern South Island
South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major Islands of New Zealand of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. The Maori name for the South Island, Te Wai Pounamu, meaning "The Water/s of Greenstone" , possibly evolved from Te Wahi Pounamu which means "The Place Of Greenstone"....
 in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to 600 m.

totara is a medium to large tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
 which grows slowly to around 20 to 25 m, exceptionally to 35 m; it is noted for its longevity and the great girth of its trunk.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Podocarpus totara'
Start a new discussion about 'Podocarpus totara'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Podocarpus totara (totara) is a species of podocarp
Podocarpus

Podocarpus is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. The 105 species of Podocarpus are evergreen shrubs or trees from 1-25 m in height....
 endemic to New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. It grows throughout the North Island
North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. The island is 113,729 square km in area, making it the List of islands by area....
 and northeastern South Island
South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major Islands of New Zealand of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. The Maori name for the South Island, Te Wai Pounamu, meaning "The Water/s of Greenstone" , possibly evolved from Te Wahi Pounamu which means "The Place Of Greenstone"....
 in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to 600 m.

Description

The totara is a medium to large tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
 which grows slowly to around 20 to 25 m, exceptionally to 35 m; it is noted for its longevity and the great girth of its trunk. The bark
BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
 peels off in papery flakes, with a purplish to golden brown hue. The sharp, dull green needle-like leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 are stiff and leathery, 2 cm long. This plant produces highly modified cones
Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
 with 2 to 4 fused, fleshy berry-like juicy scales, bright red when mature. The cone contains one or two rounded seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s at the apex of the scales.

The largest known living totara, the Pouakani Tree, near Pureora in the central north island is over 35 meters tall and nearly 4 meters in trunk diameter at breast height. Other large trees are known in this area, while Whirinaki forest, to the East, but also on deep recent volcanc soils, has groves of very tall totora (>40m in height).

Related trees

In a classic example of Antarctic flora
Antarctic flora

The Antarctic flora is a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of Gondwana, and is now found on several separate areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern South America, southernmost Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania, and New Caledonia....
 species-pair the totara is very closely related to Podocarpus nubigenus
Podocarpus nubigenus

Podocarpus nubigenus is a species of Podocarpus, endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests of southern Chile and adjacent southwestern Argentina....
 from South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, to the extent that if planted together, they are very difficult to distinguish. The best distinction is the grey-green tone of the leaves, compared to the slightly brighter green of P. nubigenus.

Cultivation and uses


The wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
 is hard and straight-grained and very resistant to rot. Due to its durability, totara wood was often used for fence posts, floor pilings and railway sleepers. It is also prized for its carving properties, and was the primary wood used in Maori
Maori

The Maori are the indigenous people Polynesian people of Aotearoa . The group probably arrived in south-western Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300....
 carving. It has been planted in the United Kingdom as north as Inverewe
Inverewe Garden

Inverewe Garden is a botanical garden in Scottish Highlands. It is located just to the north of Poolewe in Wester Ross.The garden was created in 1862 by Osgood Mackenzie on the 850 ha estate surrounding Inverewe House....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
.

Gallery